BV  1580  .C65  1922  1 

Cope,  Henry  Frederick,  1870- 

1923. 
Week-day  religious  education 


^^c^KVU  u.  r../,VC 


//  V       JAN  19  102 

WEEK-DAY  ^sicLSEtf 

RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

A  Survey  and  Discussion  of  Activities  and  Problems 


EDITED  B"5 


HENRY  F.  COPE 

General  Secretary  of  The  Religious  Education  Association 


Published  Under  the  Direction  of 
The  Religious  Education  Association 


NEW  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,  1922 
BY  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES   OF  AMERICA 


CONTENTS 

Introduction 5 

Henry  F.  Cope 

A  Survey  of  Week-Day  Religious  Education     ....  9 
Erivin  L.  Shaver 

A  Statement  from  Field  Workers 69 

The  Aims  of  Week-Day  Religious  Education 

George  H.  Betts 70 

Edward  Sargent 74 

May  K.  Cozvlcs 79 

N.  F.  Forsyth 79 

Walter  I.  Southerton        80 

William  G.  Seaman 81 

Robert  S.  Chalmers 82 

William  J.  Mutch 83 

Norman  E.  Richardson     .          84 

Charles  M.  Brunson         ' 85 

George  S.  Yaple 86 

Mary  W.  Ncivton 87 

Edna  L.  Achcson        88 

Earle  E.  Emme 89 

i^   Opposing  Theories  of  the  Curriculum 92 

George  A.  Coe 

/Evaluation  of  Curricula  for  Week-Day  Religious  Educa- 
tion       100 

Joseph  M.  Artman 

V  Worship  FOR  Week-Day  Schools 110 

Hugh  Hartshorne 

^  The  Application  of  Modern  Methods  to  Week-Day  Relig- 
ious Instruction 113 

James  F.  Hosic 

/  An  Evaluation  of  Aims 116 

Benjamin  S.  Winchester 


The  Aim  OF  Week-Day  Work 119 

George  C.  Stewart 

/  Relations  to  Public  Education 120 

lesse  B.  Davis 

The  Cooperative  Denominational  Type 124 

Earl  F.  Ziegler 

The  Malden  Plan 127 

Walter  S.  Athearn 

The  Community  Plan 131 

William  G.  Seaman 

Week-Day  Church  Schools  of  the  Individual  Church  Type     133 
Walter  A.  Squires 

The  Preparation  and  Training  of  Teachers  in  Week-Day 
Schools 

Marion  O.  Hawthorne 136 

Charles  M.  Brunson .     139 

/The  Fine  Arts  in  the  Curriculum 140 

H.  Augustine  Smith 

Problems  of  Supervision 145 

John  E.  Stout 

^  Can  Growth  in  Religion  Be  Measured? 149 

Hugh  Hartshorne 

/  The  Legal  Basis         155 

Carl  Z oilman 

•^Specific  Legal  Provisions 163 

Charles  L.  Dibble 

Findings  of  the  Convention 170 

Graphs  and  Charts  of  the  Survey 173 

The  Workers  in  Conference 197 

A  Summary  of  the  Conference 


INTRODUCTION 

This  book  contains  a  survey  and  a  series  of  studies  of  a  special  type  of 
activity  in  religious  education.  It  treats  of  week-day  religious  education 
and,  in  doing  so,  it  is  purposely  confined  to  the  special  types  which  have 
had  a  notable  development  and  extension  in  the  past  few  years.  No  one 
should  be  blind,  however,  to  the  fact  that  week-day  religious  instruction  is 
by  no  means  a  modern  innovation,  nor  should  they  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that, 
in  recent  times,  we  have  had  other  noteworthy  adventures  in  this  field  beside 
those  described  in  this  book. 

We  are  so  accustomed  to  regard  the  Sunday  school  as  the  sole  provision 
for  religious  instruction  that  it  comes  to  many  as  a  surprise  to  be  told  that 
in  early  Christianity  and  in  Judaism  week-day  instruction  was  a  normal 
method  of  training  youth.  What  is  now  going  forward  may  be  regarded  as 
restoration  rather  than  innovation,  restoration  with  new  purposes  and  with 
adaptations  to  new  conditions.  The  synagog  schools  were  not  confined  to 
the  first  day  of  the  week;  very  early  in  the  third  century  Origen  gathered 
children  in  Alexandria  and  taught  them  in  classes ;  the  catecethical  schools 
met  during  the  week,  itinerant  missionaries  established  classes ;  the  monastic 
schools  were  every-day  schools.  But  with  the  rise  of  popular  education, 
the  elementary  schools  supplanted  the  religious  schools  and  soon  it  came  to 
pass  that,  not  only  were  the  ragged  and  enslaved  child-laborers  of  Gloucester 
and  other  English  towns  without  religious  training,  but  in  the  United  States, 
since  the  public  schools  more  and  more  completely  found  themselves  separ- 
ated from  religion,  there  were  millions  of  children  without  religious  instruc- 
tion. In  the  development  of  popular  week-day  schooling  this  particular  field 
of  instruction  had  been  crowded  out.  And  now  appears  the  movement  to 
restore  it  to  its  place,  not  a  place  in  the  school  but  a  place  in  the  life  of 
childhood. 

It  might  be  very  interesting  to  trace  the  many  efiforts  to  re-integrate 
religion  in  elementary  education.  Much  could  be  learned  by  a  study  of  dif- 
ferent plans  and  of  the  difficulties  they  have  met.  That  would  take  us  far 
afield,  into  the  parochial  school  history  with  its  controversial  aspects,  into 
the  long  and  involved  struggle  of  the  religion-in-the-schools  question  in  Eng- 
land, into  the  notable  experiments,  under  special  conditions,  in  Australia, 
in  pre-war  Germany,  in  Queensland  and  in  Ireland.  But  it  will  be  much 
more  profitable  to  study  what  is  taking  place  under  current  conditions  in 
the  United  States,  growing  out  of  our  own  civil  life  and  meeting  our  special 
needs,  and  here  to  concentrate  on  a  particular  type,  and  to  attempt  a  rather 
complete  and  exhaustive  study  of  a  single,  recent  enterprise. 

In  the  United  States,  practically  within  a  decade,  there  has  been  de- 
veloped a  new  and  distinct  form  of  social  activity,  marked  by  a  religious 
purpose  and  conducted  on  educational  principles.  It  is  distinguished  not 
only  by  the  fact  that  its  time  schedules  run  through  the  week  days,  but  also 
by  definite  relationships  particularly  to  children's  school-experience,  and, 
incidentally,  by  coordinations  to  the  programs  of  public  schools.  The  Sur- 
vey conducted  by  The  Religious  Education  Association  purposely  isolated 
schools  having  these  characteristics :  they  were  for  school-children,  conducted 
during  the  school  term  and  more  or  less  definitely  related  to  the  school 
program,  but  not  conducted  within  nor  as  an  integral  part  of   full-time 


schools.  The  parochial  school  is  a  problem  all  by  itself.  The  Survey  was 
planned  deliberately  to  include  only  enterprises  which  were  related  to  the 
week-day-school  programs  of  children.  In  order  to  avoid  confusion  of 
thought  it  isolated  one  particular  problem.  That  accounts  for  the  omission 
of  any  treatment  of  the  Daily  Vacation  Bible  Schools,  the  Summer  Religious 
Schools,  and  the  week-day  activities  of  various  other  organizations.  It  does 
not  represent  any  judgment  on  the  relative  values  of  such  enterprises  as 
compared  with  the  types  of  work  here  discussed. 

It  does  seem,  however,  only  fair  to  say  that  the  present  experiment 
cannot  be  separated  wholly  from  its  past.  One  remembers  that  pioneers 
have  gone  before ;  many  courageous  initiators  and  experimentors  have  an- 
ticipated what  is  now  being  generally  realized.  It  would  be  fitting  here  to 
pay  tribute — could  we  do  so — to  all  who  realizing  obligation  to  childhood 
have  sought  to  make  more  adequate  provision  for  their  religious  needs.  But 
the  best  we  can  do  is  to  single  out  a  few  instances.  We  recognize  the  high 
motives  and  the  splendid  devotion  with  which  certain  religious  groups  have 
provided  for  their  children,  preferring  the  added  costs  of  separate  schools 
rather  than  the  alternative  of  religionless  education.  We  can  only  regret 
that  these  devoted  energies  were  not  directed  toward  such  a  solution  of  the 
problem  as  the  week-day  school  now  affords.  We  honor  the  fidelity  of 
those  churches  which  have  always,  at  least  through  stated  periods  of  the 
year,  maintained  classes  for  children  through  the  week.  We  honor,  also, 
certain  individuals  who  advocated  week-day  extension  long  before  the 
present  movement.  Dr.  George  U.  Wenner,  of  New  York  rendered  notable 
service,  both  by  conducting  week-day  classes  and  by  an  impressive  advocacy 
of  this  work  in  public  addresses  and  through  the  printed  page,  especially  in 
his  book  entitled  "Religious  Education  and  the  Public  Schools."  The  Rev. 
Rufus  W.  Miller,  Secretary  of  the  Reformed  Church,  United  States,  also 
was  an  early  advocate  of  week-day  schools.  His  pamphlet,  issued  in  1908, 
attracted  attention  over  a  wide  area  and  stimulated  many  experiments.  Those 
who  labored  for  schools  in  the  summer — notably  Dr.  Howard  R.  Vaughn, 
who  founded  so  many  summer  schools  for  children  in  different  communities, 
and  those  whose  efforts  led  to  the  Daily  Vacation  Bible  Schools,  all  have 
helped  to  make  possible  the  week-day  school  of  religion. 

The  schools  of  the  types  described  in  this  book  are  a  social  and  religious 
response  to  a  newly  realized  need.  In  recent  years  attention  has  been  more 
precisely  focussed  on  the  religious  education  of  the  young  until  we  have 
come  to  see  some  of  the  facts  sharply. 

Without  attempting  precise  arrays  of  figures  we  must  realize  a  start- 
ling situation.  Investigations  disclose  that  probably  three  out  of  four  chil- 
dren of  school-age — 6  to  18 — are  without  any  systematic  religious  training; 
for  three-fourths  of  our  population  under  education  religion  is  an  unrecog- 
nized factor;  it  has  no  real  place  in  their  lives.  Again,  for  the  one-fourth 
who  are  counted  as  having  formal  religious  instruction  only  a  pitiably  in- 
adequate provision  is  made ;  at  the  best  they  will  average  under  one  hour 
per  week  of  both  instruction  and  worship.  Surely  there  is  here  an  apalling 
need.  The  rights  of  children  have  been  shamefully  neglected.  What  was 
due  them  the  state  could  not  fully  give,  because  of  its  civic  limitations ;  and 
the  church  did  not  give,  because  of  its  adultmindedness.  The  week-day 
school  of  religious  education  is  our  first  serious  attempt  to  meet  this  situa- 
tion, not  only  by  increasing  the  time  schedules  for  religious  instruction  but 
also,  by  integrating  that  instruction  into  the  regular  educational  experiences 
of  children. 


In  1921,  it  became  apparent  that  a  very  rapid  development  was  taking 
place  in  week-day  work ;  new  schools  were  being  organized  in  many  places ; 
the  plans  that  had  been  under  experiment  for  ten  years  were  now  being 
recognized  and  adopted.  The  tables  in  the  Survey  by  Professor  Shaver 
indicate  that  while  some  few  schools  were  established  as  early  as  1909,  the 
past  two  years  have  witnessed  the  real  popularization  of  the  movement. 
During  this  later  period  the  Bureau  of  Information  in  the  office  of  the  Re- 
ligious Education  Association  has  been  daily  in  receipt  of  numerous  inquiries 
as  to  steps  to  be  taken  in  the  organization  of  schools  and  as  to  other  details 
of  their  local  relationships  and  their  support  and  management.  It  became 
evident  that  a  new  movement  in  religious  education  was  already  well  under 
way.  The  Religious  Education  Association  had  called  attention  to  this  type 
of  work  at  a  special  conference  held  in  Chicago  in  1916 ;  since  that  time  it 
had  steadily  fostered  the  development  of  experiments  in  this  field ;  its  pub- 
lications had  given  encouragement  to  those  who  were  at  work,  and  its  office 
had  counselled  with  those  who  were  seeking  to  initiate  operations. 

In  1921  the  Council  of  Religious  Education  of  the  Association  de- 
termined to  turn  from  a  theme  already  selected  and  to  devote  the  next  annual 
meeting  to  the  problems  of  week-day  religious  education.  Very  early  it  was 
decided  that  the  conference  on  this  subject  should  be  worthy  of  the  name, 
especially  in  affording  an  ample  basis  of  facts  for  discussion,  in  preparing 
the  way  by  studies  published  in  advance  and  in  holding  intact,  at  the  con- 
ference, ample  time  for  discussion.  Two  committees  were  appointed ;  one 
formed  in  New  York  to  supervise  a  survey 'to  the  field,  under  the  chairman- 
ship of  the  President  of  The  Council,  Professor  George  A.  Coe,  and  one 
formed  in  Chicago,  to  arrange  the  program,  under  the  chairmanship  of  the 
President  of  the  Association,  Professor  Theodore  G.  Soares. 

Since  the  conference  was  to  consider  existing  institutions  and  processes 
a  thorough  and  careful  survey  was  necessary.  This  was  made  possible 
through  the  generous  cooperation  of  "The  Committee  on  Social  and  Re- 
ligious Surveys"  which  became  responsible  for  this  survey  and  committed 
its  actual  work  to  the  Committee  on  Surveys  of  The  Religious  Education 
Association.  Professor  Erwin  L.  Shaver  was  immediately  engaged  and  he 
began  his  work  of  personal  visitation  of  a  large  number  of  schools  and  sys- 
tems of  schools  while,  cooperating  with  him,  the  office  of  the  Association 
entered  into  correspondence  with  all  known  schools  to  secure  the  statistical 
data.  Just  how  well  all  that  work  was  done  during  the  winter  of  1921-2 
the  reader  may  judge  from  the  complete  Survey  presented  in  this  volume. 

While  the  survey  was  under  way  the  committee  on  program  requested 
a  number  of  persons  to  prepare  the  basic  studies  which  follow  the  survey  in 
this  volume.  It  was  planned  that  all  this  material  should  be  in  print  before 
the  conference  and,  except  for  a  very  small  number  of  studies,  this  was  ac- 
complished, and  the  papers  were  published  in  the  magazine  "RELIGIOUS 
EDUCATION."  The  result  was  that  when  the  conference  assembled  those 
present  had  had  full  opportunity  to  prepare  their  minds  on  the  general 
aspects  of  the  whole  situation  and  to  consider  the  special  educational  and 
religious  problems  and  theories  involved.  Then,  for  seven  crowded  sessions, 
a  large  assemblage,  numbering  at  times  up  to  one  thousand  persons,  related 
their  experiences,  discussed  their  problems  and  concentrated  attention  on 
this  new  movement. 

This  volume  does  not  attempt  to  report  the  Conference ;  a  stenographic 
report,  somewhat  condensed,  is  being  published  in  "RELIGIOUS  EDUCA- 
TION."    So  that  one  has  here,  not  the  report  of  a  meeting,  but  a  Survey 


and  an  organized  group'  of  studies  concentrated  on  the  problems  of  a  special 
type  or  form  of  religious  education.  No  one  familiar  with  the  general  field 
needs  to  be  convinced  of  the  right  of  those  who  have  prepared  these  studies 
to  speak  with  authority  in  matters  of  religious  education.  The  significance 
of  this  group,  as  of  the  group  participating  in  the  conference,  is  most  im- 
pressive. But  it  is  only  a  testimony  to  the  fact,  patent  to  all  observers,  that 
we  stand  at  a  definite  crisis  in  matters  religious  at  this  hour,  and  we  stand, 
also,  at  the  beginning  of  what  may  be,  under  wise  guidance  and  adequate 
support,  an  educational  enterprise  and  project,  a  form  of  religious  work, 
which  may  do  more  than  all  we  have  yet  been  able  to  accomplish  to  solve 
our  serious  and  baffling  problem  of  forming  the  mind  and  purpose  of  re- 
ligion in  the  children  and  youth  of  today. 

We  do  not  believe  that  children  and  youth  of  today  are,  in  themselves, 
in  greater  need  of  religious  training;  but  we  do  believe  that  the  world  in 
which  they  live  more  seriously  and  more  tragically  than  ever  before  needs 
that  they  should  form  the  purposes  of  religious  living.  The  religious  mind 
and  motive  is  the  one  hope  of  our  world,  and  childhood  is  our  principal 
hope  and  opportunity  for  the  development  of  that  mind  and  motive.  Chil- 
dren are  tomorrow's  world,  and  what  they  are  it  will  be.  Can  we  make 
their  world  religious?  Can  we  help  them  to  discover  the  satisfactions,  the 
richness  and  fulness  of  their  lives  in  religious  terms?  The  crisis  calls  us 
to  set  the  child  in  the  midst.  This  is  what  the  week-day  school  of  religion 
seeks  to  do  by  providing  time  in  the  week's  work,  facilities  in  the  everyday 
experience,  leadership  trained,  efficient  and  devoted,  all  woven  into  an  ex- 
perience of  loving,  religious  working  and  living  together. 

Now  let  no  one  read  these  accounts  of  week-day  work  and  then  rest 
with  any  comfortable  complacence  that  the  task  has  been  accomplished. 
What  has  been  done  is  but  a  beginning.  The  record  of  week-day  schools 
is  a  challenge.  It  is  a  challenge,  First,  to  those  who  have  been  waiting  or 
indififerent.  Proving  that  much  can  be  accomplished  in  all  varieties  of  com- 
munities and  in  spite  of  almost  every  imaginable  difficulty,  it  silences  the 
objectors  who  say,  "But  our  case  is  so  different";  it  calls  on  every  one,  not 
immediately  to  start  something  working,  but  to  begin  with  serious  thought 
to  plan  for  competent  work.  Second,  it  challenges  us  all  to  our  best  thought 
and  endeavors  to  meet  the  problems  that  are  constantly  arising.  So  large 
and,  as  it  seems  to  many,  so  novel  an  enterprise  cannot  fail  to  meet  dififi- 
culties.  But  they  are  not  insuperable  where  purposes  are  sufficiently  high. 
And,  Third,  it  challenges  us  to  go  forward  and  realize  all  the  possibilities  of 
this  work,  to  rest  content  with  nothing  short  of  the  best,  to  prove  to  all 
men  that  religion  does  take  children  as  seriously  as  does  our  civil  Mfe  with 
its  schools,  it  is  a  challenge  to  give  to  children  their  full  rights.  It  is  the 
challenge  of  our  democracy  to  our  religion,  calling  us  to  give  our  best  to 
the  life  of  all,  calling  us  to  give  goodwill,  our  best  and  most  scientific  think- 
ing and  planning,  our  unreserved  devotion  of  property,  power  and  oppor- 
tunity, pouring  it  into  childhood  for  the  love  we  cannot  but  give  them,  for 
the  love  we  cannot  but  give  to  all  men,  and  for  the  hope  of  a  world  of 
justice,  goodwill  and  human  satisfactions. 

Chicago,  June,  1922.  Henry  F.  Cope. 


A  Survey  of  Week-day  Religious  Education 

ErWIN   L.    SHAVERf 

INTRODUCTION.  I.  The  General  SITUATION.  It  would  be  quite  out 
of  order  in  a  report  such  as  this  to  go  into  an  extensive  discussion  of  the 
general  situation  in  the  field  of  religious  education.  It  is  the  purpose  of  this 
report  to  study,  as  a  whole,  a  single  phase  of  the  movement,  namely,  the 
week-day  school  of  religion,  and  to  discover  certain  facts  relative  to  its 
growth  and  present  status.  This  newcomer  upon  the  field  of  religious 
education  promises  to  be  a  lively  child  and  to  be  much  seen  and  heard.  It 
is  because  of  the  rapidity  of  the  extension  of  this  movement  and  its  future 
promise  that  we  must  pay  some  attention  to  it.  That  there  are  springing 
up  at  this  time  these  new  organizations  for  the  promotion  of  the  religious 
life  seems  hardly  to  be  an  accident.  The  cause  or  causes  behind  the  idea 
should  not  be  hard  to  discover.  It  is  possible  that  a  number  of  forces  are 
back  of  the  new  institution.  Briefly,  we  might  suggest  that  there  is  at  the 
present  time  a  general  need  of  more  religious  instruction  than  we  are  offer- 
ing. In  the  face  of  the  post-war  situation,  which  reminds  us  that  we  have 
just  been  to  school  where  the  four  years'  course  held  up  the  ideal  of  selfish- 
ness, we  would  like  to  unlearn  some  things  and  build  a  better  world.  Along 
with  this  feeling  of  need  there  has  been  growing  a  conviction  that  the  church 
must  resume  its  teaching  function  and  accomplish  its  work  by  a  process  of 
education.  Still  another  trend  has  been  that  found  in  the  educational  world 
in  general  which  conceives  the  educational  process  as  that  of  educating  the 
whole  man  for  the  efficient  social  life.  These  factors,  together  with  many 
others  which  cannot  here  be  discussed  or  even  mentioned,  have  helped  to 
create  the  situation  out  of  which  the  week-day  school  has  grown. 

Our  question,  however,  is  not  so  much  the  zvhy  of  the  movement  as  the 
what  of  it.  We  are  interested  in  its  future  rather  than  its  past.  To  prog- 
nosticate we  must,  of  course,  know  how  it  came  to  be,  but  it  is  far  more 
important  to  know  what  it  is  now.  This  survey  undertakes  to  indicate  the 
existing  status  in  order  that  its  future  may  be  promising.  Since  it  is  an 
organization  that  seems  likely  to  remain  in  some  form  or  other,  we 
are  faced  with  such  questions  as  these.  What  will  be  the  place 
of  this  new  school  in  the  social  order  ?  Is  it  to  have  an  independent  relation 
to  society  and,  like  many  another  child  of  the  church,  grow  apart  from  the 
mother  institution?  What  is  the  aim  of  the  week-day  school  of  religion? 
How  is  this  aim  related  to  that  of  the  many  existing  institutions  for  the 
propagating  of  religious  ideas  and  .ideals  ?  Is  there  need  for  such  an  addi- 
tional school?  What  is  the  nature  of  the  work  being  done?  Is  this  work 
educational  as  the  name  implies?  How  can  its  friends  direct  its  course 
toward  future  usefulness  rather  than  uselessness  ?  Questions  like  these  can- 
not be  delayed. 

II.  Occasion  and  specific  purpose  of  this  survey.  The  novelty  and 
the  rapidity  of  growth  of  this  religious-educational  institution  led  leaders 
in  the  Religious   Education  Association   to   decide   upon   the   subject   for 

_  A   survey    by   The   Religious   Education    Association    with    the    cooperation    of    the    Committee    on 
Social   and   Religious   Surveys. 

See  Letter  of  Transmittal  at  end  of  the  Survey, 

tEmployed   Surveyor;  Professor  of  Religious   Education,  Hendrix   College. 

9 


10  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

discussion  at  the  annual  meeting.  Since  a  study  of  the  week-day  movement 
necessitated  a  field  survey,  the  officers  of  the  Association  and  of  the  Council 
of  Religious  Education  sought  the  cooperation  of  the  Committee  on  Social 
and  Religious  Surveys.  The  latter  committee  gladly  and  graciously  agreed 
to  cooperate  by  furnishing  the  necessary  funds,  and  a  surveyor  was  secured. 
It  was  decided  that  the  direction  of  the  survey  be  left  to  the  Committee  on 
Survey  of  the  Religious  Education  Association  and  that  a  report  be  pre- 
pared which  should  be  the  basis  of  discussion  at  the  annual  meeting.  In  the 
three  months'  time  given  to  the  surveyor  two  pieces  of  work  were  to  be 
done.  First,  a  statistical  schedule-blank  was  to  be  sent  to  all  week-day 
schools  known  to  be  in  existence  so  as  to  secure  some  idea  of  the  extent 
of  the  movement  and  certain  other  information  as  to  its  nature.  Second, 
the  surveyor  was  to  visit  in  person  a  number  of  typical  schools  as  far  as 
time  would  allow  in  order  to  acquaint  himself  with  the  work  being  done. 
It  was  thought  that  this  first-hand  knowledge  would  be  a  fundamental  part 
of  a  rapid  survey.  The  surveyor  was  to  keep  in  mind  certain  questions 
when  he  made  these  visits  with  a  view  to  passing  accurate  judgment  upon 
the  work  being  .done.  The  questions  above  stated,  together  with  such  as  are 
suggested  by  a  reading  of  pages  356  and  357  of  Religious  Education  fo' 
December,  1921,  formed  a  background  for  observation  and  analysis. 

III.  The  survey  not  inclusive.  However,  it  was  not  thought  that 
the  survey  would  be  inclusive  in  the  sense  that  details  of  every  phase  of  it 
would  be  obtained.  In  view  of  the  limited  time  and  the  purpose  to  use  it 
as  a  basis  of  discussion  at  the  annual  meeting,  certain  limitations  were  estab- 
lished. Nor  was  the  statistical  survey  regarded  as  at  all  final  or  complete  in 
its  scope.  It  was  to  serve  in  no  sense  as  a  permanent  analysis  but  rather 
as  a  cross-section  of  existing  conditions.  Detailed  study  of  specified  aspects 
were  to  be  left  to  others  who  might  at  a  later  date  seek  information. 

A  further  limitation  was  placed  upon  the  survey  by  a  narrowing  of  the 
field  to  be  studied.  There  are  many  types  and  kinds  of  religious  instruc- 
tion taking  place  during  the  week  which  might  have  been  included.  It  was 
the  aim,  however,  to  confine  the  study  to  that  recent  movement  which  has 
certain  distinct  features  centering  about  the  effort  to  coordinate  the  child's 
religious  education  with  his  week-day  program  of  instruction.  It  follows 
that  such  useful  methods  as  high-school  credits  for  studying  the  Bible  out- 
side of  school,  pastors'  classes  for  new  church  members,  the  week-day 
activities  of  Sunday-school  classes,  community  training  schools,  parochial 
schools,  daily  vacation  Bible  schools,  and  many  other  such  classes  are  thus 
eliminated  from  our  survey.  We  are  confined  to  a  movement  separate  and 
distinct.  There  has  been  no  thought  of  ignoring  the  other  efforts  due  to  any 
sense  of  superiority  in  the  present  movement.  The  week-day  schools  of 
religion  present  a  specific  organization,  purpose,  method  and  educational 
problem  quite  apart  from  any  other  type  of  religious  education.  This  does 
not  mean  that  there  is  no  relationship  existing,  but  rather  that  the  week- 
day movement  has  characteristics  which  are  peculiarly  significant. 

It  was  thought  best  also  to  further  limit  the  study  by  making  no  special 
study  of  the  Jewish  schools.  The  Jewish  system  of  religious  education  is  a 
much  older  movement  and  possesses  characteristics  peculiar  to  itself  because 
of  the  fact  of  Jewish  history.  Then,  too,  a  very  extensive  and  intensive 
study  of  the  work  of  the  Jewish  people  along  this  line  was  made  by  Dr. 
Dushkin  but  a  few  years  ago,  which  went  far  beyond  any  survey  which 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  11 

might  be  made  in  the  brief  time  given  to  us.  In  New  York  City  alone  over 
two  milHon  dollars  annually  are  being  spent  in  Jewish  education. 

IV.  Types  of  schools.  For  the  sake  of  convenience  it  is  thought 
best  at  the  outset  to  classify  the  kinds  of  week-day  schools  in  order  that  the 
later  sections  of  the  report  may  be  better  understood.  On  the  basis  of  the 
organization  and  government  of  the  several  schools  a  number  of  well-defined 
types  have  been  revealed.    These,  with  their  definitions,  follow : 

Type  I.  The  denominational  or  individual  church  type.  Where  a  single 
church  sets  up  a  week-day  school  of  religion  without  reference  to  the  work 
or  existence  of  other  schools  in  the  community  it  has  been  classed  as  be- 
longing to  this  type.  It  is  usually  governed  by  some  organization  within 
the  local  church,  such  as  a  board  of  religious  education,  a  Sunday-school 
committee,  the  session,  or  such  other  board  as  is  peculiar  to  that  denomina- 
tion. In  some  cases  it  is  directed  by  the  pastor  and  responsible  to  him  to  a 
considerable  extent. 

Type  II.  The  denominational-cooperating  group  of  schools.  In  the 
case  of  schools  of  this  type  each  individual  school  is  for  the  most  part  a 
school  of  type  I,  but  it  has  joined  itself  in  a  loose  federation  with  other 
such  schools  to  promote  common  interests.  Often  no  permanent  governing 
body  exists,  and  overhead  guidance  is  limited  to  a  meeting  of  the  pastors 
when  necessity  demands  it.  On  account  of  the  looseness  of  this  central 
governing  body  it  is  frequently  difficult  to  classify  a  school  as  type  I  oi 
type  II.  The  schools  each  have  their  own  governing  board  and  their  own 
course  of  study  and  work  with  pupils  within  their  own  constituency  or,  at 
the  most,  with  those  not  reached  by  any  other  church-school. 

Type  III.  The  nciglihorhood  or  city  system.  The  schools  in  this  type 
lose  their  denominational  character  and  merge  their  forces  with  others  to 
provide  a  common  course  of  study.  Other  arrangements  for  promoting  the 
school  are  made  without  reference  to  denominational  lines.  The  govern- 
ing board  is  usually  made  up  of  members  representing  the  several  churches. 
Teachers  are  hired  or  chosen  without  reference  to  denominational  afifiliation. 
The  number  of  schools  provided  depends  upon  many  factors,  such  as  the 
nearness  of  the  public-school  buildings  at  which  the  children  receive  secular 
instruction,  the  suitability  of  church-school  rooms  for  instruction,  numbei 
of  churches  cooperating,  and  the  like.  The  churches,  however,  do  not  cut 
themselves  off  from  control  of  these  schools,  for  they  choose  their  rep- 
resentatives on  the  governing  board.  This  is  often  modeled  after  the  plan 
of  the  public  school  board.  These  schools,  often  called  "community" 
schools,  although  they  represent  but  a  portion  of  the  community  at  best,  are 
financed  by  subscriptions  or  a  pro-rata  assessment  levied  upon  the  several 
churches  uniting. 

Type  IV.  TJic  pure  convmunity  type.  This  type  has  a  common  course 
of  study  and  a  single  governing  board.  The  board,  however,  does  not  rep- 
resent the  churches  but  the  community  at  large.  It  is  a  self -perpetuating 
organization  and  generally  self-created.  It  must  be  said  here  that  even  this 
at  best  is  not  representative  of  the  entire  community  but  only  of  the  Protest- 
ant portion  in  most  cases.  In  fact,  not  a  single  school  of  this  type  has  been 
reported  as  now  in  operation,  although  two  such  have  existed  in  the  past. 

Type  V.  Miscellaneous  schools.  This  group  could  hardly  be  called 
a  type  but  a  collection  of  a  number  of  miscellaneous  schools  with  various 
governing  bodies.     Some  schools  operated  by  local  Sunday-school  associa- 


12  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

tions,  by  private  individuals,  or  by  such  an  organization  as  the  Protestant 
Teachers'  Association  in  New  York  City,  are  included  in  this  list.  For 
most  purposes,  these  schools  may  be  reported  under  type  III. 

V,  Historical  development.  To  give  some  idea  of  the  growth  of 
the  week-day  movement  the  following  table  showing  the  years  in  which  the 
schools  reporting  were  established  is  significant. 

TABLE  NO.  1. 

GROWTH  OF  WEEK-DAY   MOVEMENT 

Out  of  324  schools  reporting,  290  give  the  date  of  establishment.  The 
oldest  school  reporting  was  founded  in  1909,  the  most  recent  schools  being 
established  in  the  present  year. 

1922  25  1915  0 

1921  1311914  0 

1920  77  1913  1 

1919  7  1912  1 

1918  6  1911  0 

1917  111910  0 

1916  30  1909  1 

Total 290 

The  recency  of  the  movement  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  over  80  per 
cent  of  the  schools  reporting  were  established  within  the  past  twenty-five 
months.  Had  we  reports  from  many  other  schools  which  we  know  to  exist, 
it  is  very  likely  that  this  nurnber  would  be  raised  to  considerably  over  90 
per  cent. 

VI.  The  RESULTS  of  the  surveys.  Whether  the  surveys  as  planned 
and  carried  out  are  to  prove  of  value  remains  to  be  seen.  It  seems  to  the 
surveyor,  however,  that  the  attitude  of  all  interested  has  been  such  as  to 
warrant  a  prediction  of  success.  The  attitude  most  frequently  discovered 
has  been  that  of  eagerness  to  cooperate.  There  was  some  delay  in  return- 
ing the  questionnaire  blanks,  but  in  view  of  the  multitude  of  such  demands 
upon  church  workers,  the  total  reaction  has  been  very  pleasing.  Those  at 
work  are  anxious  to  know  of  ways  and  means  to  make  their  efforts  more 
fruitful.  It  is  a  mark  of  wisdom  that  those  who  suggested  the  survey  have 
done  so  at  such  an  early  stage  in  the  history  of  the  movement,  for  it  will 
mean,  we  hope,  effective  guidance  to  many  schools  just  beginning.  The 
general  feeling  of  practically  all  the  workers  in  the  field  is  that  of  directing 
an  experiment  and  the  genuine,  open-minded  spirit  prevails.  This  has  vastly 
facilitated  the  task  of  survey  and,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  enabled  more  facts  to  be 
set  forth  than  otherwise  might  have  been  the  case. 

It  is  hard  to  give  any  exact  idea  of  just  how  many  schools  are  actually 
in  existence  at  the  present  time.  Survey  schedules  were  sent  out  to  some 
four  hundred  schools  or  systems.  Due  to  the  fact  that  no  central  agency 
is  responsible  for  news  as  to  the  location  and  government  of  these  schools, 
information  was  often  duplicated  and  often  misleading.  In  many  cases 
replies  came  back  that  there  was  no  school  existing,  but  that  the  work 
was  contemplated  or  desired  in  the  near  future.  Counting  some  names  that 
have  come  in  since  the  survey  was  completed  and  eliminating  erroneous 
reports  it  is  possible  that  there  may  be  between  five  and  six  hundred  actual 
separate  schools  in  existence.    The  returns  indicate  that  over  half  of  these 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 13 

have  been  accounted  for  in  the  survey.  One  hundred  and  sixty-nine  reports 
have  been  received  from  schools  and  systems,  which  include  information 
with  regard  to  three  hundred  and  twenty-four  separate  schools.  Since  most 
of  the  schools  not  heard  from  are  of  comparatively  recent  origin  and  hardly 
able  to  furnish  much  information  as  yet,  we  believe  the  reports  received 
cover  in  a  fairly  adequate  way  the  field  of  week-day  religious  education  at 
the  present  time.  Certainly  the  more  securely  established  and  typical  schools 
are  represented. 

It  may  hardly  be  within  the  scope  of  this  report  to  comment  on  its 
reliability.  The  surveyor  does  wish  to  state,  nevertheless,  at  the  outset  that 
he  believes  the  personal  visit  made  to  a  number  of  the  schools  has  been 
exceedingly  worth  while.  One  could  never  have  secured  by  correspondence 
information  which  has  been  thus  gained.  The  items  of  knowledge  acquired 
by  personal  contact  with  the  leaders  in  the  movement  and  those  on  the 
ground  are  at  least  of  equal  value  with  the  statistical  matter.  An  under- 
standing of  some  of  the  more  fundamental  problems,  such  as  the  teaching 
process  and  the  evaluation  of  the  work  by  local  authorities,  could  never  have 
been  obtained  otherwise. 

It  will  be  the  purpose  of  the  body  of  this  report  to  discuss  the  various 
aspects  of  the  findings.  It  was  thought  that  a  general  statement,  such  as  the 
preceding,  should  be  made  first.  How  far  this  information  in  each  item  is 
reliable  is  to  be  determined,  of  course,  by  the  number  of  returns  with 
respect  to  that  particular  point.  In  some  instances  certain  items  were  re- 
ported on  with  greater  fullness  and  accuracy  than  others.  It  is  fair,  we 
beheve,  to  assume  that  in  many  instances  failure  to  report  on  an  item  indi- 
cates that  were  the  point  pressed  a  negative  answer  would  have  been  enter- 
tained. The  personal  observation  of  the  surveyor  sustains  this.  In  making 
the  sectional  reports  which  follow,  the  information  from  the  schedules  re- 
turned and  the  results  of  the  visits  to  representative  schools  are  both  in- 
cluded. 

SECTION  I.    EXTENT  AND  LOCATION  OF  SCHOOLS 
A.    The  number  of  schools  by  types  and  total.    The  total  number 
of  schools  reporting  is  324.     The  distribution  is  as  follows : 

TABLE  NO.  2 

SCHOOLS  AND  SYSTEMS  REPORTING 

Total  single  schools   (Types   I   and    II)    155 

Total  schools  in   (44)   systems   (Type  III) 169 

Total 324 

To  make  a  distinction  as  to  number  between  types  I  and  II  is  difficult, 
as  has  already  been  stated.  Only  11  report  the  existence  of  an  advisory 
community  board,  although  the  surveyor  feels  that  many  more  have  such 
boards.  For  a  further  explanation  of  this  problem,  note  what  has  been 
stated  in  the  analysis  of  types  in  the  introduction  of  this  report. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  know  something  as  to  the  size  of  the  various 
systems.    To  answer  this  question  the  table  below  is  appended : 

TABLE  NO.  3 

DISTRIBUTION  OF  44   SYSTEMS 

The  systems  range  in  size  from  those  having  one  school  to  those  having 


14  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

twenty-four  schools.    The  median  number  of  schools  is  3.    The  distribution 

is  as  follows: 

Systems  operating    1  school 13 

Systems  operating    2  schools 7 

Systems  operating    3  schools 4 

Systems  operating    4  schools 10 

Systems  operating     5  schools 3 

Systems  operating    6  schools 1 

Systems  operating     7  schools 2 

Systems  operating    8  schools 0 

Systems  operating    9  schools 1 

Systems  operating  10  schools 1 

Systems  operating  11  schools 0 

Systems  operating  12  schools 1 

Systems  operating  24  schools 1 

Total   44 

B.  Location  of  schools  by  states.  The  states  from  which  schools 
have  reported,  together  with  the  number  of  schools  in  each,  are  as  follows : 

TABLE  NO.  4 

LOCATION  OF  SCHOOLS  BY  STATES 

Arkansas  2  Massachusetts  2 

California    1  Michigan   20 

Canada 1  Minnesota 24 

Connecticut    4  Missouri    5 

Illinois   44  Nebraska 2 

Indiana    26  New  Hampshire 1 

Iowa  5  New  Jersey 10 

Kansas  2  New  York 54 

Maine 1  North  Dakota  1 

Maryland    4  Ohio 61 

Oklahoma 1  Utah  27* 

Pennsylvania  9  Vermont   1 

South  Dakota   6  Virginia 1 

Texas 6  Wisconsin  3 

Total 324 

C.  Where  the  movement  is  strongest.  A  study  of  the  map  and  the 
location  of  the  schools  shows  that  a  line  drawn  between  New  York  and 
Chicago  and  shorter  lines  radiating  from  these  centers  would  graphically 
picture  the  areas  where  the  schools  are  found.  To  be  sure,  there  are  schools 
in  more  distant  places  but  they  are  few.  It  is  hard  to  say  with  any  reliability 
where  the  several  types  are  the  strongest.  The  systems  of  schools  are  found 
distributed  as  are  the  individual  schools  and  seem  to  be  a  result  of  peculiar 
local  conditions  rather  than  of  any  condition  which  can  be  stated  generally. 

D.  Total  Number  of  Pupils.  To  give  some  degree  of  comprehension 
of  the  extent  of  the  movement  it  may  be  stated  that  on  this  item  300  schools 
give  figures.  The  total  number  of  boys  enrolled  is  15,536.  The  total  num- 
ber of  girls  is  slightly  greater,  16,592,  making  a  grand  total  of  32,128  pupils 
reached  by  the  reporting  schools.  A  rough  guess  at  the  number  of  pupils 
attending  such  schools  of  religion  during  the  week  might  be  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  50,000. 

F.  Further  details.  Additional  information  as  to  the  extent  of  the 
movement  with  respect  to  buildings,  equipt»ient,  supervision,  teaching  force 
and  other  items  will  follow  in  other  sections  of  this  report. 


♦Includes  an  unknown  number  from  neighboring  states. 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  15 

SECTION  II.    THE  AIMS  OF  WEEK-DAY  SCHOOLS  OF 

RELIGION 

A.  VAGUENESS,  DIVERSITY  AND  FUSION  OF  AIMS.  One  of  the  Outstand- 
ing facts  in  the  observation  of  the  surveyor  with  respect  to  these  new  educa- 
tional organizations  is  that  there  is  a  serious  lack  of  definiteness  as  to  why 
they  are  being  established.  This  is  made  more  apparent  when  one  gets  away 
from  that  vague  idea  that  they  are  the  answer  to  a  crying  need  for  more 
religious  education  and  notes  the  character  of  the  several  efforts.  The 
brief  analysis  of  the  aims  as  they  appear  in  the  minds  of  the  leaders,  which 
occupies  this  section  of  the  report,  is  made  in  the  hope  that  order  and  clarity 
may  come  out  of  disorder  and  indefiniteness.  Of  course,  much  of  the 
vagueness  is  due  to  the  fact  that  there  is  a  considerable  diversity  of  aims  in 
various  schools  and  systems.  As  is  shown  by  the  following  discussion,  the 
ends  which  the  several  schools  hope  to  attain  differ  considerably.  In  many 
schools  and  to  some  extent  in  all  there  is  no  single  aim  or  no  one  reason  for 
the  school's  existence,  but  rather  a  multiplicity  of  objectives.  We  may  look 
at  these  objectives  from  four  angles, 

B.  Aims  viewed  with  reference  to  the  motive  in  establishing 
SCHOOLS.  When  the  leaders  of  this  movement  are  approached  on  the  sub- 
ject of  why  it  is  necessary  to  have  week-day  classes  we  obtain,  among  others, 
four  answers.  In  the  first  place  most  of  them  say  that  there  is  need  for 
more  religious  education.  The  argument  is  that  suggested  in  the  introduc- 
tory section.  Spiritual  illiteracy,  post-war  immorality,  new  adjustments  in 
religious  ideals,  and  similar  present-day  conditions  are  reviewed  to  prove 
their  point.  Whether  or  not  there  is  a  general  need  it  looms  large  in  the 
minds  of  those  responsible  for  the  existence  of  schools, 

A  second  motive,  sometimes  existing  alone  in  the  minds  of  the  leaders 
but  more  often  coupled  with  others,  is  that  of  "getting  on  the  band-wagon." 
The  mere  fact  of  imitation  is  sufficient  to  explain  the  existence  of  schools 
that  otherwise  might  not  be  accounted  for.  It  has  become  a  sweeping  move- 
ment and  the  idea  is  catching.  There  is  a  desire  to  be  up  with  the  proces- 
sion, to  have  the  latest  attachment  for  the  ecclesiastical  machine  and  the 
latest  method  for  making  the  world  over  into  the  kind  of  world  it  should 
be.  Let  it  not  be  thought  that  the  surveyor  is  endeavoring  to  ridicule  the 
earnest  workers  who  are  back  of  the  schools,  but  it  is  only  fair  to  say  that 
the  laws  of  social  psychology  are  plainly  working.  In  these  days  when 
organization  has  become  the  watchword  of  the  church  as  well  as  of  other 
social  institutions  no  church  qrganization  is  quite  complete  without  a  week- 
day school.  This  fact  of  social  suggestion  is,  on  the  other  hand,  not  without 
its  values,  else  how  would  any  good  movement  spread?  But  we  must  bear 
in  mind  that  if  this  were  the  only  reason,  that  the  other  fellow  is  doing  it, 
promotion  would  scarcely  be  justified, 

A  third  motive  which  is  occasionally  found  is  that  of  denominational 
extension.  This  varies  in  character  and  quality  and  in  its  manifestations. 
Fortunately  it  is  not  a  very  widespread  motive  in  its  less  desirable  aspects, 
for  such  a  loyalty  is  very  commonly  misunderstood  and  likely  to  lead  to 
difficulties.  Likewise  it  must  be  said  that  it  is  not  confined  to  any  one  or 
two  denominations  but  appears  to  some  extent  in  all.  The  surveyor  found 
two  schools  meeting  jointly  for  worship,  but  when  it  came  time  for  the 
lesson   each   group  of   scholars   was   taught  by   teachers   from   their   own 


16  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

church.  And  this  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  denominations  there  repre- 
sented were  considered  among  the  most  advanced  and  the  pastors  exceed- 
ingly so.  To  measure  the  extent  of  this  motive,  which  has  its  good  side  as 
well  as  its  bad,  is  difficult.  One  has  to  pry  rather  strenuously  to  find  it. 
Nor  is  this  feeling  limited  to  local  churches,  nor  even  to  a  united  front 
within  any  one  denomination,  for  one  discovers  various  agencies  in  a  single 
denominaton  vying,  in  a  more  or  less  friendly  fashion,  for  control  of  the 
week-day  movement.  The  desire  to  get  in  on  the  ground  floor  for  one's  de- 
nomination or  the  agency  with  which  one  is  connected  in  that  denomination 
must  be  set  forth  as  one  of  the  existing  motives  when  we  read  men's  minds. 
A  final  reason  from  the  standpoint  of  motivation  is  a  widespread  belief 
that  the  Sunday  school  has  failed  as  an  educational  institution.  In  the 
minds  of  many,  of  course,  it  is  not  so  much  a  matter  of  failure  as  of  in- 
ability in  the  face  of  added  burdens ;  but  the  result  is  the  same.  We  must 
have  another  or  a  new  agency  to  supplement  or  replace  the  Sunday  school. 
With  the  truth  of  this  statement  we  have  not  to  deal  in  this  report.  But 
the  fact  is  true  that  a  large  number  of  the  advocates  of  week-day  instruc- 
tion have  defended  their  action  on  these  grounds.  We  must  have  a  real 
educational  institution  with  real  educational  methods.  The  Sunday  school 
has  failed  utterly;  or,  its  work  must  be  supplemented;  we  cannot  teach 
enough  on  Sunday;  religion  must  be  carried  into  the  week-day,  and  so  on 
with  similar  ideas. 

C.  Aims  viewed  with  reference  to  those  who  are  to  be  reached 
BY  week-day  schools.  From  this  point  of  view  we  get  two  clearly  distinct 
objectives.  The  first  is  that  of  taking  care  of  one's  own  constituency.  The 
children  within  the  families  of  one's  own  church  are  to  be  given  the  religious 
education  that  is  due  them  because  they  are  thus  born  into  the  church. 
While  some  denominations  in  particular  hold  firmly  to  this  view  of  the 
objective  of  their  week-day  schools,  it  is  found  to  some  extent  among  all. 
On  the  other  hand,  perhaps  a  majority  of  the  schools  have  a  distinct  pur- 
pose to  give  religious  education  to  as  many  children  as  possible  without 
particular  reference  to  their  own  constituency.  This  is  particularly  true 
wherever  one  finds  a  school  of  type  II  or  type  III.  Many  of  these  boast  of 
the  large  proportion  of  the  children  of  public  school  age  which  they  are 
reaching.  In  a  number  of  cases  it  runs  well  beyond  ninety  per  cent,  although 
we  have  no  report  on  this  item  from  most  schools.  The  problems  thus  in- 
volved are  apparent.  One  finds  it  difficult  to  teach  children  who  have  no 
preparation  along  with  those  of  considerable  background  in  religious  ideas 
and  ideals.  The  strange  fact  is  that  few  of  the  schools  pay  any  attention 
to  these  differences,  but  go  on  teaching  prepared  and  unprepared  alike,  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  they  aim  to  reach  children  efifectively  with  a  spiritual 
message. 

D.  Aims  viewed  with  regard  to  social  function.  When  we  ask 
what  the  schools  hope  to  do  with  the  children  which  they  call  together  we 
are  met  with  three  answers.  Many  look  at  the  task  of  their  schools  as  an 
extension  of  the  Sunday  school  and  other  agencies  of  religious  education 
within  the  church.  The  week-day  school  is  an  enlargement  of  the  educa- 
tional function  of  the  church,  a  natural  widening  of  the  spiritualizing 
process  which  is  the  task  of  the  latter.  The  movement  aims  to  extend  the 
tvork  of  the  church.  Looked  at  in  other  places  it  is  thought  of  as  a  round- 
ing out  of  the  process  of  general  education.    That  is,  it  is  supplemental  to 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  17 


the  public-school  system  and  does  that  which  our  public-school  system 
cannot  legally  do,  give  religious  ideals  as  a  necessary  part  of  a  full,  rounded 
and  complete  education.  This  attitude  and  aim  is  held  by  many  public- 
school  officials  in  small  and  middle-sized  towns,  men  who  are  closely  con- 
nected with  the  churches.  They  work,  however,  frotn  the  public  school 
outzvard  rather  than  from  the  church  outward.  The  term  "religious  educa- 
tion in  cooperation  with  the  public  schools"  often  expresses  this  connotation 
although  not  confined  to  this  view.  In  fact  there  are  some  places  where 
the  public-school  men  take  pride  in  sponsoring  this  new  idea,  for  it  adds 
great  prestige  to  the  doings  of  the  public-school  system.  In  a  few  places 
these  men  are  more  earnest  and  hearty  supporters  of  the  movement  than 
the  church  leaders.  Between  these  two  views  there  is  found  a  third.  It  is 
backed  by  men  who  are  neither  so  anxious  to  extend  the  work  of  the  church 
nor  to  supplement  that  of  the  public  school  as  to  attain  a  certain  end,  namely, 
give  religious  education  (with  varying  ideas  as  to  what  this  means).  The 
church  may  be  religious,  but  not  educational ;  the  public  school  may  be  edu- 
cational, but  not  religious.  Therefore  this  new  type  of  school  takes  a  stand 
in  between  as  a  bridge  connecting  the  tivo  hut  somewhat  apart  from  either. 
The  Type  III  schools  or  systems  more  frequently  than  the  others  reflect  this 
viewpoint.  This  does  not  mean  that  where  this  aim  is  found  there  are  not 
harmonious  relations  with  both  the  public  schools  and  the  churches.  The 
difficulty  with  such  a  stand  lies  in  the  fact  that  a  supporting  and  interested 
constituency  is  hard  to  maintain.  As  to  the  validity  of  their  position  only 
further  experience  will  enable  judgment  to  be  passed. 

E.  Aims  from  the  standpoint  of  what  to  teach.  Here  again  we 
discover  a  most  interesting  situation  and  one  which  reveals  more  difficulties 
and  problems  than  any  other  which  these  schools  have  to  face.  When  one 
talks  with  the  directors  and  teachers  of  these  schools,  he  finds  the  greatest 
disparity  and  vagueness  at  this  point.  It  is  an  outgrowth,  of  necessity,  of 
the  dififerences  of  aim  above  referred  to,  but  it  is  a  more  acute  problem. 
Historically  viewed,  it  must  be  so.  Many  schools  are  satisfied  when  they 
get  the  machinery  started  and  the  wheels  turning.  Whether  there  is  any 
grain  to  be  fed  into  the  hoppers  does  not  worry  them  until  they  have 
watched  the  wheels  turn  a  bit.  Go  to  now :  we  will  have  a  school.  And, 
Lo !  the  school  is  created !  The  pupils  come !  The  school  is  going  on ! 
What  shall  we  teach?  To  be  sure  they  thought  they  would  like  to  teach 
many  things  and  so  they  set  the  machinery  going.  But  just  what  did  they 
want  to  teach  ?  After  the  machinery  started  they  began  to  think  of  product 
and  ultimate  aim.  Then  the  question  of  curriculum  became  serious  and 
they  cry  unto  someone  to  help  them  gti  a  course  of  study.  This  accounts 
for  the  great  diversity  of  courses,  a  matter  which  will  be  taken  up  later. 
Briefly  the  several  aims  from  the  standpoint  of  what  to  teach  are  somewhat 
as  follows : 

1.  The  aim  to  teach  the  Bible.  This  is  quite  common.  Some  think  of 
that  aim  as  synonymous  with  the  religious  education  of  the  child ;  others  as 
the  most  neglected  and  therefore  the  most  needed  part.  Just  what  is  meant 
by  teaching  the  Bible,  too,  comes  in  for  discussion.  Some  aim  to  teach  it 
literally ;  others  from  a  modern  scientific  point  of  view ;  still  others  (pos- 
sibly very  many)  find  that  they  must  avoid  the  issue  and  simply  tell  the 
stories  there  found.  They  say  that  there  is  a  truth  there  which  can  be 
taught  and  learned  regardless  of  whether  one  is  a  conservative  or  progress- 


IS  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

ive  in  his  method  of  interpretation.  One  system  of  schools  aims  particu- 
larly to  teach  the  Bible  as  a  group  of  stories  which  have  psychological  truth 
apart  from  any  kind  of  interpretation.  Further  the  aim  is  seen  in  the  idea 
that  if  the  child  grasps  the  facts  of  the  Bible  story  in  some  way  the  idea 
will  result  in  desired  conduct.  Looked  at  again  from  another  angle,  back 
of  the  idea  of  teaching  the  Bible  is  the  feeling  that  the  Bible  is  neglected. 
The  Sunday  school  cannot  teach  it  as  it  ought  to  be  taught;  the  world  is 
ignorant  of  the  great  Book,  and  if  we  can  only  teach  this  Book  and  get  an 
intellectual  understanding  of  its  contents  the  ills  of  society  will  be  done 
away  with. 

2.  There  are  other  schools  which  think  of  their  task  as  somewhat  larger 
than  this.  They  add  to  the  Bible  a  certain  amount  of  ■extra-Biblical  material 
in  the  form  of  Missions,  Church  History,  and  kindred  subjects.  Their 
viewpoint  of  curriculum  is  much  the  same  as  those  whose  aim  is  to  teach 
the  Bible;  likewise  their  conception  of  the  teaching  process;  but  they  feel 
that  the  Bible  ideas  need  supplementation  as  suggested. 

3.  A  considerable  number  (see  the  section  on  the  Teaching  Process) 
include  as  an  aim  of  their  schools  training  in  zvorship.  *  It  is  not  enough 
simply  to  develop  the  intellectual  side  of  the  child,  but  the  feeling  side,  too, 
must  have  its  attention.  Some  few  excuse  the  absence  of  any  worship  on 
the  grounds  that  it  is  taken  care  of  on  Sunday.  Others  on  the  grounds  that 
they  have  so  little  time.  Some  abbreviate  the  worship  to  a  hasty  prayer  and 
song.  A  few  take  worship  seriously  and  aim  to  develop  attitudes  of  rever- 
ence, gratitude,  etc.  In  a  very  few  places  the  worship  is  held  in  a  room 
chosen  for  its  worshipful  atmosphere;  in  most  cases  it  is  intellectual  in 
atmosphere  and  character.  In  some  cases  even  where  it  is  held  along  with 
the  class  session,  it  is  carefully  approached  and  fused  with  the  discussion 
of  topics  and  feeling  is  made  to  predominate.  In  all  these  schools  where 
more  or  less  attention  is  paid  to  worship  there  is  the  idea  that  worship  is 
an  integral  part  of  the  curriculum  and  must  have  attention. 

4.  Again  there  are  some  schools  (see  section  on  the  Teaching  Process) 
where  the  aim,  viewed  from,  the  standpoint  of  what  to  teach,  includes  parti- 
cipation in  various  kinds  of  activity.  Handwork,  dramatics,  play,  giving 
money  and  service  projects  are  included  in  the  course  of  study.  In  some 
cases  they  are  viewed  as  supplementary  activities  to  impress  the  ideas  gained, 
in  others  as  incentives  and  busy-work,  in  still  others  as  an  integral  part  of 
the  child's  learning  process.  But  from  the  standpoint  of  content  the  aim  is 
more  inclusive  in  any  case  than  where  these  activities  are  omitted.  Statistics 
with  reference  to  the  number  of  schools  utilizing  these  forms  of  experience 
are  given  under  a  later  section. 

5.  At  this  point  it  is  well  to  add  that  any  and  all  of  the  schools  hold- 
ing the  above  aims  as  to  curriculum  may  think  of  their  aim  as  that  of  teach- 
ing religiously  the  children  in  their  care.  In  a  few  there  is  frank  admission 
that  they  are  not  trying  to  teach  religion,  but  are  seeking  to  do  but  a  portion 
of  that  wider  task.  Others  think  that  teaching  religion  is  synonymous  with 
teaching  the  Bible,  the  Bible  plus  extra-biblical  material,  and  so  on.  Thus  it 
is  that  the  conception  of  what  religion  is  has  considerable  variations,  which 
are  too  well  understood  to  need  further  comment  here. 

F.  Aims  viewed  prom  the  standpoint  of  methods  of  teaching. 
The  above  paragraphs  have  already  suggested  this  topic.  The  conception  of 
the  curriculum  and  the  method  of  teaching  which  is  followed  are  inextricably 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  19 

interwoven.  However,  one  of  the  best  indications  of  what  the  directors  and 
teachers  are  aiming  at  was  discovered  by  the  surveyor  when  he  observed  the 
teaching  process.  Since  a  later  section  will  deal  with  this  topic  more  fully 
it  is  thought  best  to  omit  further  discussion  here  and  to  refer  to  that  portion 
of  the  report. 

SECTION  III.    GOVERNMENT  AND  ORGANIZATION 
This  section  aims  to  set  forth  certain  facts  relative  to  government  and 
organization  of  the  various  schools.    The  type-classification  on  the  basis  of 
governing  bodies  has  been  explained  in  the  introduction.    The  kind  of  gov- 
ernment is  shown  by  the  following  figures : 

TABLE  NO  5. 

GOVERNMENT  OF  SCHOOLS 

All  of  the  schools  reporting  give  information  on  this  item,  as  follows : 

Governed  by  local  church  (Type  I) 144 

Governed  by  local  church  and  an  advisory  community  board  (Type  II) 11 

Governed  by  community  board   (Type  III) 169 

Total 324 

*Note:      It    is    altogether    likely    that    many    of   type    I    schools    look    to    some    kind    of    a   loosely 
constituted  community  board  for  general  advice  but  do  not  report  that  fact. 

A."  Description  of  types  of  schools.  As  far  as  is  possible  we  shall 
try  to  tell  how  these  several  types  work  out  in  practise.  At  a  time  thus  early 
in  the  history  of  the  movement  it  is  a  hard  matter  to  attempt  any  judgment 
as  to  which  type  is  on  the  whole  superior.  What  follows  is  an  attempt  to 
evaluate  the  work  of  each  kind  and  leave  to  others  final  judgment  as  to  which 
is  likely  to  prove  most  satisfactory  in  the  long  run. 

1.  The  local  church  type.  This  type  is  most  numerous  among  those 
churches  which  emphasize  denominational  loyalty.  It  can  hardly  be  said  to 
be  Hmited  to  any  type  or  kind  of  community.  We  often  find  that  where  a 
single  church  catches  a  vision  of  the  possibilities  of  week-day  work  it  in- 
augurates a  local  church  school,  not  so  much  because  it  desires  to  strengthen 
its  own  denominational  standing  as  to  show  what  can  be  done  or  because 
other  denominations  are  slow  in  becoming  interested.  One  school  in  particu- 
lar which  has  a  forward-looking  pastor  and  an  excellent  educational  director 
has  set  out  to  make  its  school  into  a  community  afifair  at  the  beginning  of  the 
ihird  year.  No  doubt  it  will  do  it.  We  cannot  say  that  every  school  of  type  I 
is  interested  solely  in  its  own  tenets  and  creeds.  Although  the  administrative 
body  is  frequently  composed  of  a  number  of  members,  in  actual  government 
these  single  schools  are  largely  in  the  hands  of  the  principal  and  teachers. 
The  pastor  quite  frequently  teaches  and  acts  as  principal.  For  the  most  part, 
excepting  perhaps  a  half-dozen  demonstration  and  denominationally  aided 
schools,  professional  preparation  for  administration  and  supervision  is  lack- 
ing. The  individual  church  has  not  been  able  to  afford  the  full  time  super- 
visor and  teachers  who  have  made  religious  education  a  life-work.  Many  of 
these  schools  have  small  budgets  and  secure  volunteer  teachers,  although 
sometimes  they  do  secure  persons  of  considerable  qualifications.  The  curri- 
culum material  is  more  frequently  denominational  than  otherwise  and  in  most 
cases  is  given  a  denominational  slant  when  it  comes  to  teaching.  These 
schools  are  but  indirectly  related  to  the  community,  and  whatever  service  is 
done  is  in  the  way  of  training  children  within  the  local  church.    The  strength 


20  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

of  this  type  of  school  Hes  fundamentally  in  its  opportunity  to  teach  religion 
above  the  plane  of  common  morality  or  ethics ;  but  the  opportunity  is  too  fre- 
quently wasted.  Its  strength  becomes  its  weakness,  for  frequently  it  isolates 
itself  from  world-  and  community-problems  and  emphasizes  denominational- 
ism.  As  matters  at  present  stand  the  type  I  school  will  exist  for  some  time, 
both  as  a  protest  against  conservatism  on  the  part  of  a  few  progressive  schools 
and  as  a  refuge  from  progressive  tendencies  on  the  part  of  many  others. 

2.  The  codperating-denominational  type.  This  is  most  often  found  in 
small  towns  where  the  entire  community  consciousness  has  been  aroused  in 
favor  of  religious  education.  In  such  places  there  is  an  opportunity  for  most 
of  the  folks  to  know  each  other  and  thus  do  some  cooperating,  but  there  is  at 
the  same  time  an  opportunity  to  know  how  sharply  one  denomination  differs 
from  another.  What  each  denomination  does  is  known  and  noticed  by  the 
others  and,  from  sheer  defense  against  being  beaten  by  the  other  churches, 
each  one  decides  to  have  a  church  school  during  the  week.  One  pastor  in  such 
a  town  told  the  surveyor  at  the  very  outset  when  asked  about  his  school  that 
he  was  compelled  to  have  one.  The  surveyor  was  at  first  seized  with  the 
idea  that  the  public-school  authorities  were  putting  something  over  on  the 
churches  and  asked  him  about  it.  His  reply  was  that  since  the  other  churches 
had  week-day  schools  he  had  to  maintain  one,  although  he  did  not  care  to,  in 
order  to  keep  his  children  from  drifting  to  the  other  churches.  There  is  not 
sufficient  breadth  of  viewpoint  to  allow  a  system  of  schools  and  close  codpera- 
tion,  so  a  limited  amount  of  cooperation  takes  place.  The  one  outstanding 
point  on  which  they  agree  is  in  pressing  the  public-school  authorities  for  the 
release  of  the  pupils  that  they  may  attend  the  school  of  religion,  each  at  his 
own  church.  Other  than  this  there  is  little  cooperation.  Each  church  goes 
on  doing  as  it  pleases  and  it  is  in  the  schools  thus  held  that  one  sees  often  the 
widest  range  in  quality  of  work  done.  What  has  been  said  above  with  refer- 
ence to  the  schools  of  type  I  will  apply  in  large  measure  here  also.  As  to 
the  quality  of  work  actually  being  done  the  same  may  be  said.  Some  of  the 
poorest  educational  work  is  done  in  the  same  community  along  with  some 
that  is  very  high. 

3.  The  neighborhood  or  city  system.  This  type  is  found  generally  in 
the  large  centers  or  in  suburbs  of  larger  centers,  in  residence  sections  in 
which  the  people  do  not  know  each  other  quite  so  well  and  yet  well  enough 
to  cooperate  to  a  rather  high  degree.  The  old,  conservative,  non-intellectual 
kind  of  community  has  not  taken  to  the  system  type  of  week-day  school.  The 
administrative  board  is  representative  of  the  churches.  They  do  not  wish 
to  let  the  movement  get  beyond  their  control,  but  are  willing  to  make  some 
concessions  to  get  together  in  what  they  feel  is  a  worthwhile  enterprise.  One 
system  of  schools  of  this  type  began  as  a  group  cooperating  as  in  type  II  but 
saw  the  need  of  a  closer  cooperation.  Another  began  as  a  pure  community 
afifair  independent  of  the  churches  and  found  itself  in  deep  water,  coming  in 
a  short  time  to  ask  that  the  churches  assume  joint  responsibility  for  the  suc- 
cess of  the  enterprise.  From  the  standpoint  of  supervision  and  teaching 
force,  it  is  here  that  we  most  often  find  the  professional  director  and  paid 
teachers  together  with  a  rather  high  standard  of  equipment.  This  does  not 
mean  that  it  is  higher  than  many  individual  churches  but  that  it  is  higher 
than  the  individual-church  type  in  general.  The  curriculum  is  generally  one 
in  which  all  can  unite  and  quite  often  more  progressive  than  the  average 
church  would  introduce  of  its  own  accord.     One  teacher  in  a  system  school 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  21 


informed  the  surveyor  that  she  had  ceased  to  use  the  text-book  recommended 
by  the  committee  and  was  using  one  more  in  accord  with  her  views.  The 
strong  points  of  these  system  schools  is  their  breadth  of  spirit,  economy  of 
operation,  and  higher  professional  standards.  There  seems  to  be  one  draw- 
back, however,  and  that  is,  that  in  thus  uniting  so  closely  the  progressive 
church  waives  the  right  to  push  ahead  as  it  might  do  if  working  alone.  The 
curriculum  and  the  teaching  become  broad  but  often  quite  thin  and,  avoiding 
disputed  questions,  teach  not  much  more  than  a  community  morality.  Practi- 
cally every  leader  interested  in  this  type  of  school  admitted  as  much.  It  seems 
that  this  type  of  school  will  persist  for  it  has  the  community  spirit  which  is 
so  much  needed.  It  has  many  problems  to  face  and  may  undergo  some 
changes,  but  it  promises  to  survive. 

4.  The  pure  comnnmity  type.  The  fact  that  there  are  no  schools  of 
this  type  in  existence  at  the  present  writing  as  far  as  our  reports  show, 
makes  a  discussion  somewhat  theoretical.  However,  the  experiment  at  Ev- 
anston.  111.,  revealed  the  fact  that  a  system  of  schools  run  independent  of 
the  churches  is  very  likely  to  fail.  The  Maiden  system  maintained  on  such 
a  basis  conducted  high-school  classes  a  year  ago  for  the  spring  term,  but  dis- 
continued for  the  purpose  of  securing  public-school  time.  It  was  planned  to 
resume  this  spring  but  no  report  has  been  received.  In  case  the  school  does 
resume  it  will  prove  an  interesting  experiment  and  will  be  watched  with 
great  interest. 

5.  For  purposes  of  discussion  the  schools  which  might  theoretically  be 
classified  under  a  miscellaneous  heading  have  been  treated  as  under  a  com- 
munity board.  Although  these  boards  do  not  represent  the  churches  di- 
rectly, they  do  represent  organizations  of  considerable  strength  and  standing 
and  need  no  separate  treatment.  Practically  all  that  has  been  said  of  type 
III  schools  might  well  be  said  of  these. 

B.  Study  of  certain  details  of  organization.  At  this  point  we  will 
take  up  a  few  general  details  of  organization  giving  statistics  to  show  how 
the  week-day  schools  are  operated  and  something  of  the  scope  of  the  work 
with  reference  to  certain  points  not  yet  discussed.  These  items  are  more 
tangible  and  yield  to  statistical  treatment  much  more  easily.  The  first 
point  is : 

1.  The  number  of  grades  taught  in  the  various  schools.  This  is  covered 
by  the  table  below. 

TABLE  NO.  6 

NUMBER  OF  GRADES  TAUGHT 

Each  of  the  324  schools  sending  in  general  reports  gives  the  number  of 
grades  taught.  The  number  ranges  from  2  to  13  with  a  median  number  of  7. 
The  total  number  of  grades  taught  in  these  324  schools  is  2,170.  The  dis- 
tribution is  as  follows : 

Schools  teaching     2  grades* 18 

Schools  teaching     3  grades 16 

Schools  teaching     4  grades 78 

Schools  teaching     5  grades 7 

I  Schools  teaching     6  grades 37 

Schools  teaching     7  grades 34 

Schools  teaching     8  grades 60 

Schools  teaching     9  grades 27 

*Term  grade  includes  kindergarten,  a  grammar  grade  or  year 
of  high  school  work. 


22  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

Schools  teaching  10  grades 9 

Schools  teaching  11  grades 3 

Schools  teaching  12  grades 18 

Schools  teaching  13  grades . . .  .' 17 

Total    324 

2.  The  number  of  class  groups  formed.  The  grades  taught,  as  shown 
above,  do  not  always  meet  separately.  More  frequently  they  are  combined 
to  form  a  class  group.  The  table  which  follows  gives  information  on  this 
point. 

TABLE  NO.  7 

NUMBER  OF  CLASS-GROUPS  FORMED 

In  most  week-day  schools  two  or  more  grades  meet  as  one  class.  Two 
hundred  and  ninety-four  schools  report  as  to  the  number  of  such  class-groups 
formed.  The  total  for  those  reporting  is  1,328,  ranging  from  a  single  group 
to  13,  the  median  number  being  4.  The  following  table  shows  the  distri- 
bution : 

Meeting  in     1  group     for  class  purposes 10 

Meeting  in     2  groups  for  class  purposes 28 

Meeting  in     3  groups  for  class  purposes 90 

Meeting  in     4  groups  for  class  purposes 76 

Meeting  in     5  groups  for  class  purposes 24 

Meeting  in     6  groups  for  class  purposes 19 

Meeting  in     7  groups  for  class  purposes 10 

Meeting  in     8  groups  for  class  purposes 7 

Meeting  in     9  groups  for  class  purposes 13 

Meeting  in  10  groups  for  class  purposes 3 

Meeting  in  11  groups  for  class  purposes 0 

Meeting  in  12  groups  for  class  purposes 1 

Meeting  in  13  groups  for  class  purposes 13 

Total    394 

3.  Time  of  meeting.  One  of  the  most  acute  problems  in  most  com- 
munities has  been  the  securing  of  public-school  time.  How  far  this  has 
been  successful  is  revealed  in  the  table  which  is  given  below. 

TABLE  NO.  8 

TIME  WEEK-DAY  CLASSES  MEET 

Three  hundred  and  twenty  schools  report  with  reference  to  the  time 

their  classes  meet  as  follows : 

Before  school  hours 1 

During  school  hours 219 

After  school  hours 53 

Saturday  or  other  time 6 

Part  before  and  part  during    school    hours 5 

Part  before  and  part  at  noon  hour 1 

Part  during  school  hours  and  part  after  school 23 

Part  before,  part  after  and  part  at  noon  hour 12 

Total    320 

4.  Length  of  class  sessions. 

TABLE  NO.  9 
The  schools  which  report  on  this  item  number  287.    The  extremes  are 
20  minutes  and  two  and  one-half  hours,  the  latter  time  being  given  by  one 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 


23 


school  to  a  morning  kindergarten  group.    The  median  length  of  recitation 
periods  is  50  minutes.    The  distribution  is  given  below. 

20  minutes 1 

25  minutes 0 

30  minutes 38 

35  minutes 14 

40  minutes 30 

45  minutes 45 

50  minutes 20 

55  minutes 0 

60  minutes 102 

5.     Recitations  per  zveek  by  grades. 

TABLE  NO.  10 

The  following  table  will  show  the  relative  number  of  recitations  in  the 
several  schools  each  week.  The  number  varies  from  one  to  six,  the  median 
number  being  one. 


65  minutes 

70  minutes 

0 

.....       3 

75  minutes 

80  minutes 

9 

1 

85  minutes 

0 

90  minutes 

21 

120  minutes 

150  minutes 

2 

1 

Total 

287 

Grades: 


K'n  1st   2d   3d  4th  5th  6th  7th  8th  9th  10th  11th  12th 


Rep.  no  classes  283  174  153  104   88   58   56  108  129  218  223  225  230 


1 

recitation. . . 

23 

114 

131 

174 

178 

201 

194 

157 

144 

72 

68 

66 

61 

2 

recitations. . 

2 

21 

25 

31 

42 

49 

58 

43 

35 

11 

11 

11 

11 

3 

recitations. . 

12 

12 

12 

12 

13 

13 

13 

13 

13 

19 

19 

19 

19 

4 

recitations. . 

2 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

5 

recitations. . 

1 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

3 

2 

2 

2 

6 

recitations. . 

1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

Totals  324  324  324  324  324  324  324  324  324  324  324  324  324 

6.     Total  time  per  zveek  for  religious  instruction  of  pupils. 

TABLE  NO.  11 

AMOUNT  OF  RELIGIOUS  INSTRUCTION  PER  WEEK  FOR  EACH  PUPIL 

The  total  time  given  to  religious  teaching  each  week  in  287  schools  re- 
porting is  318%  hours.  The  extremes  of  time  are  ^  hour  and  3^  hours 
with  a  median  time  of  1  hour.  The  distribution  is  given  in  the  table  which 
follows : 

J4  hour     per  week 14 

%  hour     per  week 29 

f^  hour     per  week 31 

%  hour     per  week 5 

1  hour     per  week 112 

!]/(,   hours  per  week 13 

1%   hours  per  week 8 

lYi  hours  per  week 1 

lJ/2   hours  per  week 47 

1%  hours  per  week 1 

1^  hours  per  week 11 

2  hours  per  week 11 

2J/2   hours  per  week 1 

3  hours  per  week 1 

3^  hours  per  week 2 

Total    287 

SECTION  IV— FINANCIAL  SUPPORT 
A.     Sources  of  support.    The  method  by  which  the  several  schools  are 
supported  was  one  of  the  facts  sought  by  the  questionnaire.    The  returns  are 
tabulated  as  follows : 


24  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

TABLE  NO.  12 

FINANCIAL  SUPPORT 

Each  of  the  reporting  schools  gives  the  source  or  sources  of  its  financial 
support.  The  following  shows  the  several  sources  and  the  number  of  schools 
supported  thereby : 

Local  church  only 180 

Denominational  gifts  (from  outside  the  local  church)  only. ...  0 

Subscriptions  only 55 

Pro-rata  assessment  only 23 

Other  means  only 2 

Local  church  and  denominational  gifts 4 

Local  church  and  subscriptions 31 

Local  church  and  pro-rata  assessment 1 

Local  church  and  other  means 7 

Local  church,  denominational  gifts,  and  subscriptions 21 

Total 324 

Just  how  far  these  figures  are  to  be  relied  upon  is  hard  to  say.  It  is 
likely,  for  example,  that  there  is  a  quota  arrangement  in  case  of  systems  of 
schools  whereby  local  churches  support  the  schools  on  the  basis  of  their 
strength  but  report  it,  not  as  an  assessment,  but  as  local  church  support. 
Other  interpretations  may  be  similarly  made  for  the  various  items.  In  the 
main,  however,  the  divisions  given  are  suggestive. 

B.  Amounts  of  support.  Figures  are  obtainable  for  two  phases  of 
the  cost  of  running  schools,  the  total  yearly  expense  last  year  and  the  cost 
per  pupil.    The  tables  for  each  of  these  items  are  given  here. 

TABLE  NO.  13 

annual  cost  per  school 

The  number  of  schools  reporting  with  reference  to  this  item  is  171.  The 
extremes  of  cost  are  $10  and  $2,500,  the  cost  of  the  median  school  being 
$208.  The  total  cost  of  all  the  schools  reporting  was  $29,070,  an  average 
school  cost  of  $170.  Six  schools  report  that  their  work  was  done  without 
expense.    Those  reporting  an  expense  are  distributed  as  follows : 

$     10  or  under 1 

11 $      25 26 

26 50 7 

51 75 13 

76 100 6 

101 200 23 

201 500 33 

501 1,000 26 

1,001 2,000 28 

Over    2,000 2* 

Total 165 

*One  school  $2,143;  another  $2,500. 

TABLE  NO.  14 

annual  cost  per  pupil 

The  number  of  schools  reporting  on  this  item  is  165.  The  extremes  of 
cost  are  $0.03  and  $17.00,  the  median  cost  per  pupil  being  $1.00    Six  schools 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  25 

report  that  the  cost  per  pupil  was  nothing.    The  distribution  is  given  by  the 
following  table : 

$00.25   or   under 15 

.26 $00.50 6 

.51 .75 12 

.76 1.00 16 

1.01 2.00 32 

2.01 5.00 56 

5.01 10.00 15 

10.01 15.00 5 

Over    15.00 2* 

Total    159 

*In  one  school  $15.78,  and  in  another  $17.00. 

It  is  apropos  here,  while  the  expense  question  is  being  discussed,  to  add 
that  there  are  a  number  of  schools  which  boast  of  how  cheaply  a  school  can 
be  maintained.  There  are  no  doubt  circumstances  which  often  make  for  a 
minimum  of  expense,  such  as  excellent  ex-public-school  teachers  who  offer 
their  services  gratis,  but  it  is  an  observation  of  the  surveyor  that  this  bargain 
in  religious  education  is  not  what  it  is  boasted  to  be.  The  amount  expended 
in  such  cases  is  a  fairly  reliable  indication  of  what  is  being  obtained  by  the 
expenditure. 

It  should  also  be  noted  here  that  these  costs  are  not  always  a  reliable 
indication  of  the  actual  conditions  which  they  seem  to  represent.  For  ex- 
ample, the  partial  time  of  pastors  and  directors  is  not  always  added  to  ex- 
penses. Some  schools  with  figures  lower  than  others  in  reality  have  spent 
more  for  their  equipment  and  maintenance  than  others  whose  reports  show 
a  much  higher  figure.  A  further  study  of  comparative  costs  may  be  made  by 
examining  the  sections  on  Administration  and  Supervision,  and  on  Teachers 
where  the  salaries  of  these  workers  are  given. 

C.  How  THE  MONEY  IS  SPENT.  No  Statistics  are  available  to  determine 
how  the  several  items  of  the  budget  were  apportioned.  Personal  observation 
leads  to  the  belief  that  by  far  the  largest  item  is  that  of  the  payment  of  teach- 
ers and  supervisors.  Possibly  from  75%  to  90%  for  this  item.  When  this 
question  was  put  to  those  in  charge  of  the  schools  visited  the  answers  appear 
to  substantiate  this  estimate.  In  those  schools  where  the  workers  give  their 
services  the  only  appreciable  item  of  expense  is  that  necessitated  by  text- 
books. This  portion  of  the  outlay  in  the  schools  having  volunteer  teachers  is 
apt  to  be  even  smaller  than  where  teachers  are  paid,  for  in  most  cases  of  the 
less-expensive  schools  the  pupils  have  no  individual  texts,  but  a  copy  in  the 
hands  of  the  teacher  seems  to  suffice.  The  expense  for  heating,  lighting,  and 
similar  factors  is  generally  cared  for  by  the  churches  in  which  the  schools 
meet,  or,  in  case  public-school  buildings  are  used,  the  rooms  are  heated  with- 
out extra  cost  to  either  the  public  school  or  the  week-day  class  meeting 
therein. 

D.  Problems  of  financial  support.  The  financial  problem  appears 
to  be  one  of  the  foremost  difficulties  in  many  of  the  schools,  especially  in  the 
case  of  those  schools  which  have  set  for  themselves  a  high  standard  of  work 
and  are  taking  the  task  seriously  from  the  educational  standpoint.  Many 
principals  and  superintendents  state  that  their  greatest  need  was  funds,  and 
they  meant  by  the  statement  no  lack  of  appreciation  of  such  problems  as  the 
curriculum  and  methods  of  teaching.    The  recent  industrial  situation  in  sev- 


26  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

eral  centers  has  meant  a  curtailing  of  expenses.  From  one  standpoint  this 
difficulty  does  not  trouble  the  more  recently  organized  schools  as  it  does 
those  which  have  been  operating  for  some  time.  It  is  easier  to  get  funds  for 
a  new  movement  than  for  one  which  may  have  ceased  to  arouse  interest.  The 
tendency  seems  to  be  to  rely  more  and  more  on  the  churches  to  supply  the 
funds  rather  than  on  the  community  directly.  The  Evanston  experiment 
along  this  line  is  a  good  example.  By  their  existing  organization  the  churches 
can  get  what  money  is  available  for  such  purposes,  for  it  is  from  the  church 
people  that  the  money  comes  regardless  of  the  channels  through  which  it 
comes.  The  effect,  naturally,  of  obtaining  the  necessary  expense  money  in 
this  way  is  to  strengthen  the  control  of  the  churches  with  reference  to  the 
government  of  the  schools. 

SECTION  V— BUILDING  AND  EQUIPMENT 

A.  Buildings.  The  report  with  regard  to  the  buildings  and  physical 
equipment  will  take  into  account  both  the  statistical  information  obtained 
from  the  questionnaire  sent  out  and  personal  observations.  The  following 
figures  give  some  idea  of  the  various  kinds  of  buildings  in  which  the  classes 
meet. 

TABLE  NO.  15 

BUILDINGS  USED 

Three  hundred  and  thirteen  schools  out  of  324  report  as  to  the  kind  of 
buildings  used.  A  total  of  283  buildings  are  used,  a  number  of  schools 
using  the  same  building  in  many  cases.  In  others  the  same  school  or  system 
will  use  several  buildings  of  different  kinds : 

Used  in  Following     Total  Buildings 
Number  of  Schools       of  Kind  Used 

Public  schools    66  32 

Churches 207  185 

Parish  houses   52  24 

Halls    36  4 

Y.  M.  C.  A.  buildings 16  3 

Settlement  houses   9  1 

Own  building   36  28 

Others  9  6 

Total    283 

Character  of  these  buildings  and  classrooms.  To  pass  a  general  esti- 
mate upon  the  usefulness  of  these  buildings  and  classrooms  for  educational 
purposes  one  might  say  that  they  are  the  usual  equipment  of  the  Sunday 
school  with  some  added  improvements.  The  larger  classrooms  or  assembly 
■  rooms  are  selected  for  the  most  part  and,  since  there  are  usually  fewer 
pupils  meeting  at  one  time  than  in  Sunday  school,  there  is  less  crowding. 
Also  the  better  rooms  can  be  utilized.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  four 
or  five  cases  the  week-day  classes  were  either  dismissed  or  moved  to  some 
other  room  because  of  other  more  important  activities  of  adults.  One  class 
was  forced  to  meet  in  a  baptistry  alcove  on  this  account.  In  one  school  the 
director  had  taken  pains  to  greatly  improve  the  lighting  of  a  basement  room 
by  adding  more  powerful  electric  lamps  and  ground  glass  globes.  A  few 
schools  have  excellent  buildings.  They  are  held  in  churches  which  have 
been  making  vast  improvements  in  their  Sunday  schools  and  the  week-day 
school,  of  course,  has  the  advantage  of  a  good  classroom.  Most  of  the 
rooms  have  some  suggestion  of  being  devoted  to  educational  purposes,  but 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  27 

very  few  are  designed  or  chosen  with  reference  to  worship.  Indeed  some 
are  very  barren  of  all  those  factors  which  create  an  attitude  of  worship. 
When  compared  to  the  rooms  used  in  public-school  buildings  those  in  the 
churches  are  decidedly  inferior  from  the  standpoint  of  instruction.  When 
worship  is  the  criterion,  however,  many  of  the  church  rooms  are  more  suit- 
able than  the  former.  It  would  seem  that  where  worship  is  thought  of  as 
a  part  of  the  curriculum  of  religious  education  far  more  adequate  provision 
must  be  made  than  is  now  done  for  this  element.  In  one  building  the  sur- 
veyor visited,  which  was  erected  primarily  to  house  week-day  classes  and 
which  is  located  across  the  street  from  the  public  school,  there  is  a  good  in- 
structional atmosphere.  But  the  worshipful  surroundings  are  lacking.  The 
suggestion  also  which  strikes  the  observer  as  he  compares  this  tiny  building 
with  its  great  and  magnificent  sister  institution  opposite  is  the  feebleness  of 
the  religious  enterprise.  A  church  building,  other  things  being  equal,  gives 
more  adequate  facilities  for  developing  the  religious  life  and  commands 
deeper  community  respect.  In  this  particular  instance  the  superintendent 
of  public  schools  has  suggested  the  use  of  a  nearby  church  in  preference  to 
the  small  building. 

There  appears  to  be  a  tendency  among  these  schools  to  avoid  using  the 
public-school  buildings.  Since  many  churches  are  building  excellent  educa- 
tional plants  it  seems  as  if  the  future  homes  of  this  new  movement  will  be 
in  churches  planned  with  the  educational  aim  in  mind.  In  that  case  par- 
ticular attention  can  be  paid  to  worship,  as  is  not  now  being  done. 

B.  Equipment.  We  shall  first  present  the  statistical  information 
gathered  and  follow  with  personal  comments  on  equipment  as  a  whole. 

TABLE  NO.  16 

USE   OF    ARTIFICIAL    LIGHT 

Two  hundred  and  seventy-one   schools  give  a   report  on   this   item  as 
follows: 

Reporting  that  artificial  light  is  used 27 

Reporting  that  artificial  light  is  not  used .••:•••  ^^^ 

Reporting  that  artificial  light  is  used  in  some  of  their  buildings 

and  not  in  others 42* 

Total    271 

*Used  in  a  total  of  27  buildings  and  not  used  in  a  total  of  15. 

TABLE  NO.  17 

SEATING 

Two  hundred  and  seventy-eight  schools  give  a  report  as  to  the  kind  of 
seating  as  follows: 

Using  pews   only .- 8 

Using  chairs  or  seats  onlj^ 211 

Using  benches   only 4 

Using  pews  and  chairs 13 

Using  chairs   and  benches 17 

Using  pews,  chairs  (or  seats)  and  benches 25 

Total    278 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 


TABLE  NO.  18 

TABLES  AND  DESKS 

Forty-nine  schools  do  not  report  on  this  item,  leaving  275  reports  which 
give  the  following : 

Reporting  use  of  tables  or  desks 223 

Reporting  tables  or  desks  not  used 52 

Total    275 

TABLE  NO.  19 

BLACKBOARDS 

Two  hundred  and  seventy-three  schools  report  as  to  whether  or  not 

blackboards  are  used. 

Reporting  use  of  blackboards 264 

Reporting  blackboards   not  used 9 

Total    273 

TABLE  NO.  20 

MAPS 

Two  hundred  and  thirty-four  schools  give  the  following  information 
as  to  the  use  of  maps : 

Reporting  that  maps  are  part  of  equipment 198 

(Of  this  number  166  schools  give  the  number  of  maps, 

totaling  589,  an  average  of  over  three  to  a  school.) 

Reporting  that  maps  are  lacking 36 

Total    234 

TABLE  NO.  21 

LIBRARIES  AND  REFERENCE   WORKS 

Number  Number 

Number  not     Number     answering  answ^ering 

Reporting     Reporting        "Yes"  "No" 

Are  reference  works  used?     197                 127                 127  0 

Is    there    a   pupils'    library?     197                 127                    77  50 

Is  there  a  teachers'  library?     149                 175                 157  18 

The  size  of  libraries  is  indicated  by  the  following  table : 

Pupils  Teachers 

1—  10  volumes  12  19 

11 —  25  volumes   5  26 

26 —  50  volumes   0  9 

51—100  volumes   0  .  14 

101—200  volumes   1  13 

201—500  volumes    1  2 

Over  500  volumes 0  ■        4* 

Totals    19t  87t 

*A  system  of  four  schools  reports  a  library  of  1,500  volumes 
for  teachers. 

fThis  number  only  of  those  reporting  libraries  give  the  num- 
ber of  volumes. 

Other  Equipment.  The  additional  equipment  covers  such  items  as 
pianos,  organs,  sand  table,  crayons,  etc.  This  was  reported  voluntarily. 
Eighty-six  schools  reported  pianos  as  a  part  of  their  equipment.  The 
other  items  worthy  of  mention  are:  Stereopticons,  a  moving  picture  ma- 
chine, a  loom  and  a  gymnasium.  No  doubt  more  of  such  additional  equip- 
ment might  have  been  discovered  if  specific  questions  had  been  asked. 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 


29 


Personal  comments  on  equipment.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  where 
pubHc-school  buildings  are  used,  artificial  lighting  seldom  has  to  be  provided. 
It  seems  that  many  schools  have  taken  refuge  under  the  term  "in  full  day- 
light" and  considered  that  since  their  schools  met  late  in  the  afternoon, 
artificial  light  would  not  have  to  be  used  were  the  sun  shining  brightly  and 
it  were  mid-day.    The  schools  visited  frequently  used  artificial  light. 

Most  of  the  chairs  used  are  the  ordinary  type.  In  one  case  the  pastor 
had  had  arms  added  to  serve  as  places  for  writing  and  eating  at  church 
socials.  The  classes  reported  as  meeting  in  public  schools  use,  of  course, 
the  desks  common  to  school-rooms.  It  is  to  the  credit  of  most  of  these 
schools  of  religion  which  meet  during  the  week  that  they  have  not  used 
pews  and  benches.  It  is  an  indication  that  certain  ideals  of  an  educational 
character  have  possessed  the  minds  of  those  backing  these  schools  which 
differentiates  them  considerably  from  the  average  Sunday  school.  There 
is  a  feeling  that  somehow  these  are  to  be  schools  and  the  equipment  must 
be  of  a  standard  type  as  far  as  possible.  In  one  school  visited  adjustable 
desks  were  used.  The  room  was  crowded  and  dark  and  made  these  excel- 
lent pieces  of  furniture  stand  out  in  contrast.  Most  of  the  tables  seen  were 
of  the  home-made  type  which  can  be  folded  and  piled  away.  A  number  of 
schools  have  adopted  a  type  of  table  which  was  first  used  in  one  of  the  large 
systems.  It  is  long  and  narrow,  with  folding  legs,  and  is  sometimes  covered 
with  manilla  paper  or  varnished.  It  serves  as  desk  and  work  table  for  about 
five  pupils.  In  many  cases  the  tables  reported  were  for  the  use  of  the 
teacher,  and  the  pupils  in  reality  had  none,  but  did  what  little  writing  was 
required  as  best  they  could  in  their  chairs. 

Although  most  of  the  schools  report  that  they  have  blackboards,  the 
observer  saw  very  little  use  made  of  them  in  most  schools  visited.  Likewise 
in  the  case  of  maps.  The  same  statement  with  respect  to  the  use  of  refer- 
ence books  may  be  made.  There  is  little  reason  to  doubt  that  all  of  these 
factors  in  equipment  were  available  but  not  actually  at  hand  in  the  class- 
room as  every  day  helps. 

SECTION   VI.     RELATIONS   TO   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

One  of  the  key  problems  in  connection  with  the  week-day  movement 
for  religious  education  is  that  of  the  relationship  which  these  schools  bear 
to_  the  public-school  system.  The  one  distinctive  feature  of  relationship 
with  the  child's  daily  program  of  instruction  has  meant  a  close  relationship 
with  the  public-school  program.  From  many  quarters  has  come  the  demand 
for  time  from  the  public-school  program  of  the  child  in  order  that  this 
newly  emphasized  subject  might  have  a  chance.  In  addition,  many  have 
sought  recognition  from  the  public  school  in  the  form  of  credit.  Both  the 
granting  of  time  and  the  giving  of  credit  have  served  to  bring  about  a  close 
connection  between  the  educational  forces  of  the  public  schools  and  those 
representing  religion.  As  to  the  legal  aspects  of  this  relationship,  the  student 
is  referred  to  three  articles  printed  in  Religious  Education  for  February, 
1922.  But  it  will  be  the  purpose  of  this  report  to  show  the  nature  of  the 
relationship  that  exists  and  the  degree  of  cooperation  discovered. 

A.  Granting  of  credit.  One  of  the  vital  relationships  which  exists 
is  that  of  granting  credit.  In  reply  to  questions  as  to  the  credit  given,  the 
information  which  follows  was  received. 


30  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

TABLE  NO.  22 

GRANTING    OF    CREDIT    IN    PUBLIC    SCHOOL 

There  are  10  schools  out  of  the  total  number  reporting  which  give  no 
information  as  to  whether  credit  is  given  in  the  public  schools  for  work 
done  in  the  week-day  school  of  religion.  Of  the  number  giving  informa- 
tion regarding  this  item  (314) 

The  number  reporting  no  credit  is r. 195 

The  number  reporting  credit  is 119 

Total 314 

Of  the  119  schools  reporting  the  giving  of  credit 

Grade  school  credit  is  reported  by 24 

High  school  credit  is  reported  by 82 

Both  grade  and  high  school  credit  by 13 

Total 119 

The  nature  of  the  credit  granted  in  the  grade  schools  is  given 
As  "reporting  of  class  mark  on  public  school  report  card"  by. .     21 

As  "same  as  any  subject"  by 6 

As  "supplementary  grade"  by 1 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  the  nature  of  this  credit  when  given  in  the  grade 
school  would  not  be  the  same  as  when  given  in  the  high  school.  In  the 
latter  case  it  takes  equal  rank  with  any  other  elective  subject.  But  in  the 
former,  where  elective  subjects  are  rare,  such  can  hardly  be  the  case.  Some 
grade  schools  have  a  number  of  optional  or  supplementary  subjects  such 
as  music  or  Spanish  and  when  week-day  courses  in  religion  are  taken  the 
grade  made  is  reported  on  the  card  sent  home  as  one  of  these  supplemental 
subjects.  They  are  not  exactly  elective  in  that  every  child  must  take  so 
many  to  complete  his  daily  schedule,  but  rather  optional.  Where  the  credit 
is  given  in  the  high  schools  as  an  elective  subject  the  relationship  is  to  be 
determined  by  the  degree  of  supervision  which  the  public-school  authorities 
exercise  over  the  teaching  process. 

B.  How  PUPILS  ARE  EXCUSED  WHERE  SCHOOLS  MEET  DURING  PUBLIC- 
SCHOOL  HOURS. 

TABLE  NO.  23 

HOW    PUPILS   ARE   EXCUSED 

Two  hundred  and  fifty-four  schools  in  which  part  or  all  of  the  classes 
meet  during  public  school  hours  report  as  to  the  manner  in  which  pupils  are 
excused  as  follows : 

By  parents'  request  in 237 

By  whole  grades  in 13 

By  parents'  request  and  by  whole  grades  in 4 

Total 254 

Note:  It  seems  doubtful  that  any  school  excuses  children  without  parents' 
consent.  Some  may  infer  that  because  the  entire  grade  is  dismissed  the  excusing 
is  done  by  grades. 

The  following  is  a  typical  form  of  excuse  blank  which  is  to  be  filled  out 
by  the  parent  and  filed  with  the  public  school  authorities : 
REQUEST  FOR  DISMISSAL 

To  the  principal  of   School. 

In  accordance  with  a  resolution  adopted  by  the  Board  of  Education 

June  5,  1916,  you  are  hereby  courteously  requested  to  dismiss 

from  school,  each at  2:15  P.  M., 

that  ....  may  receive  religious  instruction  at  this  hour. 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  31 


When  such  instruction  ceases  to  be  given,  proper  notice  will  be  given 
you  that  this  dismissal  privilege  may  be  withdrawn.  Such  notice  will  be 
sent  you  either  by  the  teacher  who  gives  the  religious  instruction  or  by 
myself. 

Parent. 

In  some  instances  the  granting  of  such  an  excuse  has  been  exercised 
by  the  school  principals  and  superintendent  only  after  special  action  by  the 
public-school  boards.  In  other  cases  no  new  ruling  has  been  deemed  neces- 
sary, but  the  excuse  has  been  granted  under  an  already  existing  rule.  For 
many  years  it  has  been  the  rule  of  many  school  boards  to  excuse  children 
^yhose  parents  so  requested  in  order  that  they  might  attend  religious  instruc- 
tion. Before  the  establishment  of  these  week-day  schools  of  religion, 
however,  the  privilege  was  but  rarely  asked. 

C.    From  what  kind  of  public  school  .\ctivity  is  time  taken? 

TABLE  NO.  24 

The  254  schools  in  which  all  or  part  of  the  classes  meet  during  public- 
school  hours  report  as  to  the  activity  from  which  pupils  are  excused  as 
follows : 

From  play  period 34 

From  study  period 177 

From  auditorium  period 25 

From  recitation  in  elective  subjects 156 

Total *** 


***< 


*Since  various  pupils  and  classes  even  in  the  same  school  may  be  excused 
from  different  activities,  the  figures  of  necessity  overlap. 

In  the  large  proportion  of  schools  there  are  always  some  pupils  who  do 
not  go  to  the  school  of  religion.  These  pupils  do  various  things.  Where  the 
excuse  is  given  to  be  away  from  a  recitation  in  an  elective  subject  the  pupil 
simply  misses  a  certain  amount  of  good  which  he  might  get  from  that  sub- 
ject. In  one  school  visited  the  city  superintendent  stated  that  Wednesday 
afternoon  was  a  time  when  no  marks  were  kept  of  any  work  done.  Hence 
the  pupils  who  went  to  the  church  lost  no  credit  in  that  way.  At  this  par- 
ticular place  those  who  stayed  at  the  public  school  were  given  a  course  in 
morals  and  manners.  This  quite  frequently  is  the  case;  what  the  public 
school  offers  is  a  course  in  ethics,  good  citizenship,  or  the  like.  Some 
scholars  thus  excused  miss  so  much  study  time  which  they  must  make  up  in 
some  other  way,  as  at  home.  In  many  of  the  larger  and  more  flexible  school 
systems  a  free  play  period  or  an  auditorium  period,  which  are  in  a  sense 
elective,  allows  a  chance  for  the  child  to  go  to  the  class  in  religion.  To  be 
sure,  he  misses  a  play  period  or  an  activity  which  takes  place  in  the  audi- 
torium, but  he  has  something  else  in  its  place. 

This  leads  to  the  question  of  the  schedule  of  the  child.  It  is  apparent 
that  practically  any  arrangement  that  may  be  made  means  either  overcrowd- 
ing or  competition.  This  may  be  looked  at  as  a  good  or  an  evil  and  is 
thus  viewed  by  different  groups.  Some  feel  that  religion  is  more  important 
than  many  other  studies  or  activities  with  which  the  child  occupies  his  time 
at  present.  Others  take  the  opposite  stand  and  prefer  that  their  children 
remain  in  the  public  school  even  though  permission  has  been  officially 
granted  for  their  being  excused.    It  is  interesting  to  note  in  this  connection 


32  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

the  experience  of  a  week-day  school  of  religion  in  a  cultured  residence 
section  of  one  of  our  large  cities.  This  school  began  the  year  with  its 
classes  meeting  during  the  hours  of  the  public  school  and  had  obtained  the 
privilege  of  having  its  children  excused,  but  has  changed  to  an  after-school 
program.  It  has  not  been  able  to  compete  with  the  activities  of  the  public- 
school.  In  that  particular  system  the  so-called  heavy  subjects  are  not  placed 
early  in  the  day  but  come  almost  any  time.  Hence  in  the  thought  of  many 
parents  it  is  not  deemed  best  that  their  children  miss  one  lesson  a  week  in 
grammar,  arithmetic  or  history  to  attend  the  school  of  religion,  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  an  excuse  is  freely  granted  by  the  public  schools.  In  fact,  it 
was  reported  to  the  observer  that  one  of  the  teachers  in  the  week-day  school 
of  religion  would  not  ask  that  her  own  children  be  excused  for  religious 
instruction.  In  such  a  city  as  this,  which  has  an  excellent  public-school 
system  and  where  a  tremendous  amount  of  social  activity  is  provided  for 
children,  the  problem  of  a  crowded  schedule  and  competition  is  entirely 
different  from  an  industrial  community  where  satisfactory  social  life  is  not 
provided. 

In  one  of  these  latter  cities  the  attitude  of  the  public-school  head  is 
worthy  of  attention.  He  takes  the  stand  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  public 
school  to  take  charge  of  the  entire  time  of  the  child  (aside  from  that  directed 
by  the  family  life)  and  fill  that  time  with  wholesome  social  activities  properly 
supervised ;  hence  a  long  school  day.  This  attitude  is  not  limited  to  this 
one  place  but  is  found  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  in  many  of  the  more  ad- 
vanced school  systems.  What  is  more,  it  is  in  such  places  that  the  com- 
petition, if  we  may  call  it  such  without  appearing  to  be  unfair,  is  not  only 
a  matter  of  time,  but  of  the  character  of  the  activity  itself.  The  pupils  do 
not  care  to  leave  their  public-school  work  for  the  less  interesting  cl?ss  in 
religion.  We  must  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  in  its  appeal  to  initiative, 
social  impulses  and  self -directed  effort  the  modern  public-school  does  not  rely 
upon  truant  officers  and  the  old  type  of  disciplinary  measures  to  secure 
results.  It  is  this  very  appeal  to  the  active  nature  of  the  child  which  leads 
him  rather  than  drives  him  and  produces  a  love  for  rather  than  an  aversion 
to  the  school-room.  This  changed  nature  of  the  work  of  the  public  school  is 
evident  in  the  plans  and  purposes  of  the  heads  of  our  public  schools.  In 
conversations  with  these  leaders  the  surveyor  found  repeatedly  a  new  note 
sounded,  namely,  education  for  character  and  citizenship,  which  utilizes 
the  best  methods  in  educational  theory  and  makes  close  approach  to  the 
very  thing  for  which  the  church  has  long  been  standing.  The  more  im- 
portant fact  is  not  so  much,  it  seems,  the  crowding  of  the  time  schedule  as 
the  fact  of  a  new  purpose  and  a  new  method  in  public  education.  The  latter 
as  well  as  the  former  must  be  taken  into  consideration  in  studying  the  ques- 
tion of  relationships  between  the  public  school  and  the  new  movement  in 
religious  education. 

D.  Public  school  supervision  of  week-day  schools  of  religion. 
Since  this  movement  has,  as  one  of  its  distinctive  characteristics,  a  claim  to 
educational  recognition  and  since,  in  most  places,  it  has  asked  for  and 
secured  public-school  time,  it  is  but  natural  that  there  should  be  some  over- 
sight of  the  work  by  public-school  authorities.  Just  how  far  this  oversight 
extends  was  one  of  the  questions  which  this  survey  sought  to  answer.  The 
statistical  returns  relative  to  this  fact  give  us  the  following  information: 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 


TABLE  NO.  25 

OVERSIGHT  BY  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  OFFICIALS 

Of  the  254  schools  in  which  all  or  part  of  the  classes  meet  during  public 
school  hours,  252  report  as  to  the  extent  of  oversight  by  public  school  of- 
hcials  as  follows: 

No  oversight  by  public  school  officials 27 

Some  oversight  by  public  school  officials ........'.   225 

Total ~^ 

The  nature  and  extent  of  this  oversight  is  shown  by  the  answers  to  the 
questions  m  the  following  table: 

Notre-  Report-  Report-       Report- 

Does  the  public  school  keep  a  record  of  ""^'''"^  '"^  ing  "Yes"    ing  "No" 

attendance?    3  249  iqq 

Does  the  public  school   take    cognizance 

of  pupils'  conduct? 7  245  i'-4 

Does  the  public  school  take  cognizance  ' 

of  the  work  of  pupils? 31  031  ^gg                 52 

From  personal  observation  the  surveyor  believes  that  most  of  this  over- 
sight IS  more  frequently  nominal  than  actual.  Sdiool  systems  have  taken 
varied  stands  upon  the  degree  of  relationship  which  they  think  should  exist 
i^roni  conversation  with  public-school  heads  it  seems  that  most  of  them 
avoid  a  close  relationship.  It  is  necessary  to  have  some  check  upon  attend- 
ance to  prevent  truancy,  but  such  a  relationship  is  considered  of  small  im- 
portance. When  It  comes,  however,  to  the  question  of  whether  or  not  it  is 
the  place  of  the  public-school  officials  to  discipline  there  is  some  difference 

°i°P!"'°i"-  .^"^  P'^''^  ""'^'^^^  §^^^^  ^^e  information  that  the  public-school 
officials  disciplined  any  child  reported  as  needing  it  by  the  teacher  of  re- 
ligion. Another  public-school  system  took  an  opposite  stand  to  the  effect 
that  when  the  pupils  had  once  left  their  care  they  had  no  further  respon- 
sibility. It  IS  evident  that  there  is  a  point  here  which  will  bear  further  study 
and  watching.  As  an  actual  fact  it  seems  that  the  number  reporting  discip- 
linary oversight  is  larger  than  it  should  be,  for  there  may  be  a  theoretical 
willingness  to  look  into  this  matter  which  is  practiced  but  rarely.  The 
public-school  officials  are  in  most  places  keeping  their  hands  off  as  far  as 
these  points  are  concerned.  The  same  general  statement  may  be  made  with 
reference  to  the  matter  of  passing  upon  the  quality  of  the  work  done.  What- 
ever visiting  is  done  by  the  public-school  superintendent  or  principal  is  of  a 
very  unofficial  nature,  rather  with  the  intention  of  showing  a  friendly  spirit 
than  exercising  official  prerogative.  It  would  seem  that  the  relationship 
question  is  usually  settled  when  the  time  question  has  been  passed  upon. 
After  that  the  week-day  school  goes  on  of  its  own  accord  in  its  own  way.  In 
but  a  few  cases  did  the  surveyor  find  that  visits  had  been  made  by  public- 
school  officials.  There  is  certainly  no  comparison  to  be  made  of  supervision 
by  public-school  officials  as  practiced  within  the  public  schools  and  in  th.e 
week-day  classes  of  religion. 

E.  Official  actions  of  public  school  boards.  While  it  is  hardly 
within  the  scope  of  this  survey  to  go  into  detail  as  to  the  official  action  taken 
by  school  boards  relative  to  this  matter,  it  is  well  to  summarize  the  condi- 
tions upon  which  week-day  schools  of  religion  have  been  given  recognition 
by  the  public-school  boards  and  time  for  such  instruction  granted.  A  few 
copies  of  official  action  by  these  boards  have  been  sent  in.  In  addition  to 
these  communications,  personal  conversation  with  both  public-school  and 


34  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

religious-school  workers  enables  the  surveyor  to  comment  upon  the  several 
conditions  as  follows: 

1.  In  some  places  the  conditions  of  excuse  are  conspicuous  by  their 
absence.  There  is  a  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  board  (induced  by  a  cam- 
paign conducted  by  the  religious  forces  of  the  community)  that  religious 
instruction  is  a  valuable  and  needed  asset  to  the  life  of  the  community.  The 
result  is  permission  to  conduct  classes  but  no  conditions  are  set  outside  of  a 
written  application  for  excuse  by  the  parent. 

2.  In  other  places  similar  action  is  taken,  but  it  is  understood  that  such 
rules  and  regulations  are  to  be  made  by  the  superintendent  of  schools  tliat 
the  quality  of  work  which  he  hopes  to  secure  may  be  obtained.  This  leaves 
much  responsibility  to  this  official.  In  some  cases  he  prescribes  stringent 
conditions ;  in  others  he  sets  practically  none.  One  superintendent  of 
schools  informed  the  surveyor  that  it  did  not  matter  to  him  what  kind  of 
work  these  week-day  schools  of  religion  did.  He  believed  that  religion  was 
a  good  thing  and  that  the  churches  ought  to  have  the  privilege  of  teaching. 
But  if  they  wasted  the  time  given  to  them  by  poor  teaching,  they  were  the 
losers  and  not  the  public-school  system. 

3.  The  matters  of  attendance  and  conduct  of  pupils  have  been  dis- 
cussed above.  These  facts  are  frequently  specified  in  school-board  rulings. 
The  aim  is  to  prevent  truancy  or  misconduct  and  thus  produce  a  reaction 
upon  the  work  of  the  public  school. 

4.  It  is  sometimes  a  matter  of  resolution  that  the  program  must  be 
arranged  between  the  superintendent  and  the  church  leaders  to  suit  the 
convenience  of  all.  This  is  done  to  protect  the  public-school  schedule  and 
prevent  breaking  into  the  work  of  the  more  difficult  subjects. 

5.  One  school  reported  a  provision  to  the  effect  that  there  should  be 
no  discrimination  between  the  pupils  who  left  to  attend  religious  classes 
and  those  who  remained  in  the  public  school. 

6.  In  another  case  the  arrangement  was  limited  to  one  year,  evidently 
with  the  idea  of  giving  the  experiment  a  trial. 

7.  One  question  which  seems  to  be  quite  prominent  in  the  conditions 
attached  to  granting  time  in  a  number  of  the  better-known  schools  is  that 
of  the  qualifications  of  teachers.  Where  this  is  mentioned  the  requirement 
is  that  those  teaching  religion  shall  be  as  well  qualified  as  those  teaching 
the  secular  subjects.  In  a  number  of  places  this  is  the  endeavor  and  aim 
of  the  week-day  school  of  religion,  but  it  is  not  always  reached. 

8.  In  a  few  cases  the  curriculum  of  the  proposed  class  or  school  has 
been  passed  upon  before  the  pupils  have  been  excused.  In  one  prominent 
school  the  curriculum  did  not  meet  the  standards  set  by  the  public-school 
authorities  and  the  classes  had  to  meet  outside  of  school  hours. 

F.  Unofficial  attitude  of  public-school  workers.  This  has  been 
foreshadowed  in  the  report  on  the  willingness  of  many  public-school  work- 
ers to  grant  time  to  these  schools.  In  general,  there  seems  to  be  hearty 
cooperation  with  the  movement.  Many  public-school  men  have  been  the 
prime  movers  in  their  communities.  Very  few  seem  to  have  any  personal 
reluctance  and  whatever  of  hesitation  is  occasionally  manifest  is  due  to  the 
idea  of  safeguarding  the  public  interest.  This  personal  friendliness  is  en- 
tirely apart  from  any  judgment  which  they  make  with  regard  to  the  quality 
of  work  being  done  or  the  difficulties  to  be  met.  What  they  think  of  the 
work  is  reserved  for  a  later  portion  of  this  report. 

G.  Teaching  the  bible  in  the  public  schools.    While  there  was 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 35 

no  attempt  to  survey  this  movement  it  is  mentioned  here  because  a  few 
reports  came  in  relative  to  classes  taught  in  the  high  schools.  A  number 
of  states  allow  such  a  course  to  be  taught.  The  aim  is  usually  to  study  the 
Bible  from  the  standpoint  of  literature  or  history.  As  such  it  has  not  been 
an  unusual  proceeding.  But  with  the  recent  emphasis  upon  religious  educa- 
tion in  general  and  the  movement  for  week-day  religious  instruction  in  par- 
ticular there  seems  to  have  sprung  up  a  feeling  that  if  such  courses  can  be 
taught  in  the  high  school  it  will  mean  much  for  religion.  Somewhat  limited 
observation  leads  the  surveyor  to  the  belief  that  while  the  officials  are  insti- 
tuting such  courses  in  the  English  or  History  departments  of  their  schools 
it  is  with  the  acknowledged  hope  that  a  certain  kind  of  conduct  may  result. 
Beneath  the  scholarship  aim  there  is  the  religious  aim.  The  question  is : 
Can  these  classes  be  conceived  as  religious  education  or  not  ?  Also :  what 
is  the  effect  upon  religious  education  when  the  Bible  is  thus  taught? 

SECTION  VII.  RELATION  TO  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 
AND  CHURCH 

A.  Number  in  some  Sunday  school. 

TABLE  NO.  26 
Two  hundred  and  three  schools  report  as  to  the  number  of  their 
scholars  that  are  enrolled  in  some  Sunday  school.  The  total  reported  by 
these  schools  is  17,339.  The  extremes  are  8  pupils  and  363  pupils.  The 
median  is  70.  In  those  schools  reporting  on  this  item  there  are  a  total  of 
22,987  pupils,  so  that  the  percentage  attending  some  Sunday  school  is  75. 
The  distribution  by  schools  is  as  below  indicated : 

50  and  under  enrolled  in  S.  S 86 

51—100  enrolled   in   S.   S 67 

101—150  enrolled  in   S.   S 17 

151—200  enrolled   in   S.   S 21    ■ 

201—250   enrolled  in   S.   S 10 

Over  250  enrolled  in  S.  S 2* 

Total    203 

*275  pupils;   363  pupils. 

B.  Official  relations  to  the  Sunday  school  and  church.  No 
lengthy  statement  is  needed ;  suffice  it  to  say  that  these  schools  have  very 
little  official  relation  to  the  Sunday  school.  They  are,  however,  more  closely 
related  to  the  churches,  being  governed  in  practically  all  cases  by  a  com- 
mittee of  the  church  or  the  pastor  individually.  Because  of  this  separation 
from  the  Sunday  school  many  of  the  problems  so  apparent  have  arisen.  The 
slight  connection  is  in  most  cases  unofficial,  for  usually  those  most  interested 
in  religious  education  are  found  supporting  both  institutions.  It  must  be  said, 
however,  that  this  newer  movement  has  the  backing  of  those  who  are  more 
educationally  minded  and  of  many  who  think  the. Sunday  school  inadequate. 
There  is  also  a  professional  interest  displayed  in  behalf  of  week-day  schools 
by  paid  workers  which  tends  to  arouse  seriousness  and  systematic  attention. 
The  paid  worker  takes  his  or  her  work  in  these  schools  just  as  do  the  public- 
school  teachers,  as  a  task  which  commands  their  first  consideration.  In  a 
few  cases  an  organization  has  been  created  which  makes  the  week-day  school 
an  integral  part  of  a  unified  educational  program  by  the  local  church,  but 
such  correlation  is  still  rather  rare. 

C.  Relations  from  the  standpoint  of  the  pupil's  experience. 
The  lack  of  official  relationship  finds  reflection  even  to  a  greater  degree  in 


36  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

the  experience  of  the  pupil.  Since  there  is  no  attempt  to  correlate  the  work 
done  in  the  majority  of  schools,  the  pupil  views  his  attendance  at  the  week- 
day school  as  one  thing  and  that  at  Sunday  school  as  another.  In  certain 
communities  there  is  such  a  public-school  atmosphere  in  matters  of  organ- 
ization and  routine  (not  so  much  in  the  matter  of  teaching)  and  there  are 
so  many  children  attending  who  are  not  in  Sunday  school  that  it  is  quite 
a  different  institution  to  the  pupil.  In  a  certain  other  kind  of  school,  the 
isolated  denominational  school  in  a  community  giving  no  uniform  attention 
to  the  week-day  movement,  only  the  most  studious  Sunday-school  scholars 
attend,  so  that  it  is  quite  unlike  the  work  of  Sunday.  In  some  schools, 
obviously,  these  differences  are  not  so  apparent.  But  if  we  eliminate  from 
this  number  those  which  compete  with  the  Sunday  school  in  curriculum  and 
activities,  we  have  a  relatively  small  number  in  which  there  is  a  unity  of 
experience  for  the  child.  The  week-day  school  is  something  different, 
something  new,  and  threatens  to  overshadow  the  Sunday  school  in  the  minds 
of  both  pupils  and  their  parents.  From  the  standpoint  of  the  teaching 
process,  with  a  different  curriculum  and  a  different  set  of  teachers,  the 
unity  of  experience  is  further  split  apart. 

D.  Correlation  with  the  Sunday  school.  There  are  a  number  of 
efforts  being  made  to  bring  about  a  correlation  with  the  Sunday  school 
with  varying  results.  For  the  most  part  this  endeavor  is  approached  from 
the  standpoint  of  curriculum  with  the  idea  that  if  the  content  material  can 
be  correlated  the  unity  of  experience  will  follow.  The  usual  method  is  to 
enlarge  upon  the  lesson  material  and  then  make  a  division  so  that  the 
same  ground  is  not  covered  in  the  two  meetings.  It  is  not  the  place  of  this 
report  to  evaluate  curricula  or  the  specific  methods  as  to  this  correlation ; 
suffice  it  to  say  that  at  least  three  denominations  are  pursuing  this  plan  very 
definitely.  A  few  individual  schools  and  one  system  are  working  in  the  same 
direction.  There  is  greater  difficulty  in  the  matter  of  correlation  in  the 
system  type  of  schools,  for  while  the  week-day  school  has  a  common  curri- 
culum for  all  cooperating  churches,  the  respective  Sunday  schools  are  quite 
often  different.  When  some  experiments  with  curricula  and  teaching 
methods  have  been  made  it  is  possible  that  some  of  these  difficulties  will  be 
overcome. 

E.  Significance  of  existing  relationships.  The  results  of  the 
facts  observed  by  the  surveyor  with  reference  to  these  existing  relationships 
might  be  stated  as  follows : 

1.  There  is  present  in  most  of  the  schools  visited  a  considerable  lack 
of  correlation.  This  needful  unifying  must  take  into  consideration  the 
entire  experience  of  the  child  in  the  home,  in  the  church,  in  Sunday  school 
and  in  all  other  religious  agencies  and  likewise  in  his  public-school  work 
and  play  life.  It  seems  that  what  we  need  more  than  all  else  is  not  extension 
of  time  and  quantity  of  instruction  but  an  intensified  and  unified  program 
of  higher  quality.  This  cannot  be  obtained  by  increasing  agencies,  but  must 
be  the  subject  of  most  earnest  thought  by  those  interested. 

2.  There  is  a  considerable  feeling  on  the  part  of  a  number  that  the 
time  we  have  had  for  untold  generations  should  be  better  utilized.  This 
does  not  mean  that  religious  life  and  its  development  should  be  confined  to 
Sunday,  but  that  Sunday  should  cease  to  be  a  burden  to  some  and  a  detri- 
ment to  others.  How  little  of  it  is  actually  used  for  the  development  of  life 
in  the  Christian  direction !  We  have  gone  ahead  on  the  assumption  that  the 
child  must  not  be  tortured  with  a  long  Sunday  program,  as  though  the 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 


educational  process  must  of  necessity  be  a  distasteful  one.  If  we  watch 
the  growth  of  our  public-school  system  we  note  the  fact  that  it  is  extending 
its  time  program  into  all  the  life  of  the  child.  Nor  is  the  process  of  attend- 
ing school  becoming  more  burdensome  but  rather  less  so  with  the  discovery 
of  democratic  and  socialized  methods  of  teaching.  In  his  conversation  with 
public-school  administrators  and  supervisors  the  surveyor  has  become  quite 
convinced  that  one  method  of  the  solution  of  the  religious-education  prob- 
lems lies  in  the  adaptation  of  the  best  possible  methods  of  teaching  to  the 
time  we  already  have.  If  that  is  done  we  may  then  rightfully  ask  for  more 
time  from  other  agencies  controlling  the  life  of  the  child. 

3.  There  has  grown  up  a  remarkable  conviction  that  the  only  adequate 
religious  education  such  as  we  desire  can  be  obtained  when  there  is  devel- 
oped a  body  of  trained  teachers.  The  surveyor  has  heard  little  objection 
to  the  use  of  the  professionally  trained  and  paid  teacher  in  the  week-day 
school.  He  can  recall  but  one  instance.  In  many  places  where  teachers  are 
not  paid,  payment  is  not  opposed  but  simply  hindered  by  lack  of  funds.  It 
seems  to  be  almost  an  axiom  of  the  week-day  movement  that  trained  teach- 
ers shall  be  secured.  The  relationship  to  the  public  school  seems  to  be  one 
of  the  largest  factors  in  this  change  of  sentiment.  This  contribution  has 
borne  fruit  in  the  effects  upon  the  Sunday  school.  Several  instances  were 
reported  to  the  surveyor  of  Sunday-school  teachers  wanting  to  quit  teaching 
because  the  pupils  knew  more  than  they  did.  It  has  undoubtedly  strength- 
ened the  movement  already  started  to  pay  workers  with  children  the  same 
as  we  pay  those  who  minister  to  adult  life  in  the  church.  There  is  a  feeling 
that  the  child  deserves  the  professionally  trained  leadership  as  well  as  the 
adult. 

4.  In  and  through  all  this  question  of  relationship  between  the  week- 
day movement  to  the  church  and  Sunday  school  there  is  considerable  con- 
fusion of  aims,  as  pointed  out  in  an  earlier  section  of  the  report.  One 
consequence  of  the  rise  of  this  new  religious-educational  institution  is  a 
close  attention  to  this  most  fundamental  problem.  There  are  not  a  few  lead- 
ers in  the  movement  who  are  keenly  aware  of  a  need  for  restatement  of  aims 
so  that  the  objectives  of  religious  education  shall  be  more  clearly  defined. 
This  attitude  is  one  which  is  far  more  frequently  found  among  the  workers 
in  these  schools  than  in  the  Sunday  school  and  bodes  well  for  both. 

SECTION  VIII.     ADMINISTRATION   AND   SUPERVISION 
A.     Who  ADMINISTERS  AND  SUPERVISES?    The  two  tables  bclow  givc  an 
answer  to  this  question  from  the  statistical  standpoint. 

TABLE  NO.  27 

SUPERVISION    BY    PART   TIME   AND    FULL   TIME    WORKERS 

Three  hundred  and  four  schools  report  regarding  supervision  in  their 

schools.    Of  this  number,  four  report  that  their  schools  are  not  supervised. 

The  supervision  in  the  remaining  300  schools  is  done  by  part  time  workers 

in  some  schools  and  in  others  by  full  time  workers,  as  the  figures  below 

show  :* 

Schools  reporting  part  time  supervisors 234 

Schools  reporting  full  time  supervisors 66 

Total 300 

*Administration  and  supervision  are  given  together,  since  the  two  functions 
are  usually  expected  of  the  same  officer.  The  actual  time  given  to  supervision  of  the 
teaching  process  is  given  in  a  later  table. 


38  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

TABLE  NO.  28 

SUPERVISION  BY   PASTORS,  DIRECTORS  AND  PUBLIC   SCHOOL  OFFICIALS 

Number 
employed  in         Number  of 
supervision       schools  using 

Pastors  (part  time  workers) 86  110 

Directors  (part  time) 23  64 

Directors  (full  time) 16  66 

Public  school  officials  (part  time) 11  19 

One  comment  must  be  made  with  respect  to  pastoral  administration 
and  supervision.  That  is  one  which  quite  frequently  came  from  public- 
school  men  who  doubt  the  educational  vision  and  training  of  the  average 
pastor.  A  number  of  pastors,  to  be  sure,  have  qualified  themselves  by  edu- 
cational training  and  experience  to  do  school  work,  but  the  majority  have 
not  and  are  unfamiliar  with  the  standards  so  much  insisted  upon  by  public 
educational  leaders.  If  the  church  is  to  reemphasize  its  educational  function 
it  needs  trained  religious  educators.  The  number  of  directors  is  indicative 
of  an  increasing  recognition  of  this  fact.  Most  of  the  directors  listed  as 
part-time  workers  are  thus  reported  because  they  give  a  large  share  of  their 
time  to  other  duties  in  connection  with  the  church  and  but  a  portion  to  the 
week-day  school.  The  number  of  full-time  directors  (16)  does  not  seem  to 
represent  fairly  and  adequately  the  conditions  as  observed.  A  number  of 
communities  have  secured  the  services  of  trained  supervisors  to  head  up 
their  teaching  force  and  set  professional  standards  of  work.  In  a  few  cases 
this  is  done  by  communities  joining  together  to  hire  expert  service.  The 
public-school  supervision  has  been  partially  discussed  above  in  the  section 
on  Public  School  Relationships.  It  is  found  largely  in  the  case  of  type 
II  schools.  The  systems  have  more  often  provided  for  supervision  by  a 
special  director,  so  that  the  report  that  the  supervision  is  done  by  "the 
pastors  assisted  by  the  superintendent  of  schools,"  is  rare  in  their  case. 

B.  Salaries  of  administrators  and  supervisors.  The  figures  on  this 
item  are  given  both  by  the  month  and  by  the  year,  as  indicated  below : 

TABLE  NO.  29 

salaries  of  administrators  and  supervisors 

(By  the  month.) 

The  number  of  schools  from  the  total  surveyed  which  report  a  monthly 

salary  for  their  supervisor  is  136.    Of  this  number  7Z  report  the  amount  of 

salary  as  nothing.    The  remainder  (63)  report  the  amount  as  listed  in  the 

following  distributoin  table.     The  extremes  of  monthly  salary  are  $15  and 

$160.    The  median  salary  paid  is  $22: 

$  10  and  under 0 

11 $  25 36 

36 50 16 

51 75 3 

76 100 0 

101 125 5 

126 150 2 

Over  150 1* 

Total 63 

*$160. 

TABLE  NO.  30 
salaries  of  administrators  and  supervisors 
(By  the  year.) 
The  number  of  schools  from  the  total  surveyed  which  report  a  yearlv 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  39 

salary  for  their  supervisor  is  134.  Of  this  number,  7Z  report  the  amount 
of  the  salary  as  nothing.  The  remainder  (61)  report  the  amount  as  listed  in 
the  following  distribution  table.  The  extremes  of  salary  are  $36  and  $3,000. 
The  median  salary  paid  is  $222 : 

$      50  and  under 1 

51 $    100 0 

101 200 19 

201 500 27 

501 1,000 3 

1,001 1,500 5 

1,501 2,000 4 

Over     2,000 2* 

Total    61 

*One  salary  of  $2,500;  another  of  $3,000. 

Note:  The  total  amount  reported  as  spent  for  supervisors'  salaries  is  $33,286. 
A  considerable  amount  of  this,  however,  must  be  accounted  for  by  saying  that  it 
includes  payment  for  other  work  in  the  local  church. 

C.  Training  of  supervisors. 

TABLE  NO.  31 

TRAINING  OF  ADMINISTRATORS  AND  SUPERVISORS 

Of  the  324  schools  making  general  reports,  191  give  information  as  to 
the  training  of  their  supervisors.  The  nature  of  the  training  and  the  num- 
ber of  schools  supervised  by  one  of  that  training  is  given  below.  There  is 
of  necessity  some  overlapping  of  figures  due  to  the  fact  that  this  training  is 
not  mutually  exclusive: 

College  (also  includes  high  school  training) 155 

Theological  seminary  (also  includes  high  school  and  in  most  cases  college) ....  88 

Normal  school  (high  school  training  included) 48 

High  school  training  only 12 

Training  school  (Deaconess,  etc.) 13 

Community  training  school 1 

Special  training  (exclusive  of  above) 10 

Religious  education  study 70 

D.  Experience  of  supervisors. 

TABLE  NO.  32 
experience  of  administrators  and  supervisors 
Of  the  324  schools  making  general  reports,  169  give  information  as 
to  the  educational  experience  of  their  supervisors.  The  nature  of  the  expe- 
rience and  the  number  of  schools  supervised  by  one  of  that  experience  is 
given  below.  There  is  of  necessity  some  overlapping  of  figures  due  to  the 
fact  that  this  experience  is  not  mutually  exclusive: 

Public  school    59 

High  school 45 

College 4 

Normal  school 10 

Training  school 4 

Community  training  school 3 

Sunday  school  only 65 

E.  Time  given  to  supervision. 

TABLE  NO.  33 

TIME    PER    WEEK   GIVEN   TO    SUPERVISION 

One  hundred  and  ten  schools  report  regarding  the  time  per  week  given 
to  supervision  of  the  teaching  process.  Twenty  schools  report  the  amount 
of  time  as  "none."    The  total  time  reported  by  the  remaining  90  schools  is 


40  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

56^4  hours,  the  median  time  being  25  minutes  and  the  extremes  2j^  minutes 
and  4  hours.    The  distribution  is  as  follows : 

^-hour  or  less 39 

VA—y2  hour    19 

y2—\   hour 24 

1 — 2   hours 2 

2—3   hours 2 

3 — 4   hours 4 

Total 90 

In  commenting  upon  the  above  figures  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
this  time  is  that  spent  in  "individual  conferences  with  teachers  concerning 
their  methods."  This  does  not  include  that  spent  in  teachers'  meetings.  In 
the  latter  the  specific  problems  of  individual  teachers  rarely  come  up  and 
criticism  of  specific  lessons  almost  never.  Hence  it  was  desired  to  get  at  the 
heart  of  the  supervision  process.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  but  90  reports  give 
any  time  at  all  and  the  total  time  of  these  90  schools  is  56^  hours.  To  be 
fair  we  must  state  that  a  number  of  schools  held  teachers'  meetings  and 
conferences  at  which,  no  doubt,  certain  problems  of  teaching  came  up  for 
discussion.  As  to  the  quality  of  this  supervision  the  surveyor  can  say  but 
little.  In  a  few  cases  the  supervisor-administrator  went  with  him  to  visit 
classes.  It  seems  that  there  is  some  visitation  going  on  and  possibly  this  is 
followed  by  personal  conferences  with  the  teacher,  as  shown  in  the  above 
report. 

SECTION  IX.     TEACHERS 

A.  Number  of  teachers.  The  following  four  tables  give  the  statis- 
tical information  as  to  the  numbers  of  teachers : 

TABLE  NO.  34 

TEACHERS — PART   TIME   AND    FULL   TIME 

Three  hundred  and  twenty-three  schools  report  on  this  item.  The  total 
number  of  schools  thus  reporting  employ  858  part  time  teachers  and  30  full 
time  teachers,  a  total  of  888.  The  schools  using  these  are  divided  as  follows 
with  reference  to  the  kind  of  teachers  they  employ: 

Using  part  time  workers 266 

Using  full  time  workers 27 

Using  both  kinds  of  workers .  - 30 

Total 323 

TABLE  NO.  35 

TEACHERS — VOLUNTEER  AND  PAID 

Three  hundred  and  twenty-three  schools  report  on  this  item.  The  total 
number  of  schools  thus  reporting  employ  545  volunteer  teachers  and  343 
paid  teachers,  a  total  of  888.  The  schools  using  these  are  divided  as  follows 
with  reference  to  the  kind  of  teachers  they  employ: 

Using  volunteer  teachers 118 

Using  paid  teachers 158 

Using  both  kinds  of  teachers 47 

Total    323 

TABLE  NO.  36 

PASTORS  AND  DIRECTORS  AS  TEACHERS 

Number 
emploj-ed  in         Number  of 
teaching  schools  using 

Pastors 71  100 

Directors 44  72 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  41 


TABLE  NO.  Z7 

NUMBER  OF  TEACHERS 

Three  hundred  and  twenty-three  schools  report  the  use  of  888  teachers. 

The  number  in  each  school  varies.  There  are  five  schools  in  which  one 
teacher  is  shared  by  all.  One  school  employs  16  teachers.  Between  these 
two  extremes  we  have  the  distribution  as  shown  in  the  following  table,  the 
median  number  being  2 : 

Schools  using  a  teacher  with  other  schools 64 

Schools  using     1  teacher 86 

Schools  using    2  teachers 57 

Schools  using    3  teachers 24 

Schools  using    4  teachers 31 

Schools  using    5  teachers 25 

Schools  using    6  teachers 11 

Schools  using    7  teachers 5 

Schools  using    8  teachers 9 

Schools  using    9  teachers 2 

Schools  using  10  teachers 0 

Schools  using  11  teachers 1 

Schools  using  12  teachers 2 

Schools  using  13  teachers 3 

Schools  using  14  teachers 0 

Schools  using  15  teachers 2 

Schools  using  16  teachers 1 

Total 323 

B.  Salaries  paid  teachers.  Although  the  questionnaire  blank  asked 
for  the  yearly  and  monthly  salary,  many  schools  do  not  pay  their  teachers  in 
that  way,  but  rather  by  the  hour  and  so  reported.  The  figures  with  refer- 
ences to  salaries,  by  the  month,  the  year,  and  by  the  hour  follow : 

TABLE  NO.  38 
salaries  of  teachers 
(By  the  month.) 
Two  hundred  and  fifteen  schools  out  of  324  give  information  with  re- 
spect to  the  monthly  salaries  paid  to  teachers.    Of  this  number,  122  schools 
report  the  salary  as  nothing,  the  remainder    (93)    reporting  amounts  per 
month  paid  for  teaching  ranging  from  $8  to  $280.     The  median  amount 
spent  for  teaching  per  month  is  $60.    The  distribution  is  as  follows : 

Under  $10  10 

$  11—  25 13 

26—  50 19 

51—  75  25 

76—  100 18 

101—  125 • .  •   3 

126—  150 4 

Over  150  2* 

Total 93 

*$160;  $280. 

TABLE  NO.  39  » 

salaries  of  teachers 
(By  the  year.) 
One  hundred  and  ninety-nine  schools  out  of  324  give  information  with 
respect  to  the  yearly  salaries  paid  to  teachers.  Of  this  number,  122  schools  re- 
port the  salary  budget  as  nothing,  the  remaining  77  reporting  amounts  per 
year  paid  for  teaching  ranging  from  $68  to  $2,500.  The  median  amount  spent 
for  teaching  annually  is  $600  per  school.     The  total  annual  salary  budget 


42  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

is  $48,546  from  the  77  schools  reporting.*   The  distribution  is  shown  by  the 
following  table : 

$    100  and  under 4 

101—$    200    5 

201—      300     10 

301—      500 11 

501—  1,000     35 

1,001—1,500     7 

1,501—  2,000     4 

Over         2,000    1** 

Total    77 


*Some  of  this  amount  is  to  be  accounted  for  by  crediting  it  to  payment  for 
other  work  within  the  local  churches  by  directors,  visitors,  etc. 
**$2,500. 

TABLE  NO.  40 

PAY  OF  TEACHERS 

(By  the  hour) 
Of  the  total  schools  reporting  (324)  this  item  is  reported  on  by  222.  One 
hundred  and  twenty-two  schools  report  that  their  teachers  are  volunteer, 
leaving  100  which  report  rates  of  pay  per  hour  varying  from  60  cents  to 
$2.00.    The  median  rate  per  hour  is  $1.25.    The  distribution  follows: 

$0.60  per  hour 1 

.75  per  hour 1 

.ao  per  hour 9 

1.00  per  hour 36 

1.25  per  hour 32 

1.35  per  hour 4 

1.50  per  hour 11 

2.00  per  hour 6 

Total 100 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  in  a  number  of  cases  the  salaries  paid  include 
remuneration  for  other  services  with  the  church  as  well  as  week-day  teach- 
ing. In  a  number  of  other  instances  the  principal  teaches  as  well  as  admin- 
isters and  supervises,  and  the  salary  is  thus  repeated  under  both  duties. 

C.  Training  of  teachers. 

TABLE  NO.  41 
Of  the  324  schools  making  general  reports,  268  give  information  as  to 
the  training  of  their  teachers.  The  nature  of  the  training,  the  number  of 
teachers  thus  trained  and  the  schools  employing  teachers  of  that  kind  of 
training  are  shown  in  the  table  below.  Since  the  figures  are  not  mutually 
exclusive  there  is  overlapping  in  case  totals  are  attempted : 

Teachers  Schools 

Thus  Trained      Employing 

College  (also  includes  high  school) 252  199 

Normal  (also  includes  high  school) 179  137 

Theological  seminary  (including  high  school  and 

college  in  most  cases) 61  95 

High   school    only 214  163 

Public'  sch'ool   only 29  47 

Training  school    (Deaconess,   etc.) 38  30 

Community  training  school 6  4 

Special   training    32  46 

D.  Experience  of  teachers  as  educators. 

TABLE  NO.  42 
Of  the  324  schools  making  general  reports,  293  give  information  as 
to  the  educational  experience  of  their  teachers.     The  nature  of  the  experi- 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  43 

ence,  the  number  of  teachers  thus  experienced  and  the  number  of  schools 

employing  teachers  of  that  kind  of   experience  is  given  in  the   following 

table.     Since  this  experience  is  not  mutually  exclusive  the  totals  will  be 
greater  than  the  number  of  schools  reporting: 

Teachers  Thus  Schools 

Experienced  Employing 

Public  school 340  175 

High  school 41  64 

College    15  45 

Normal  school   2  2 

Training  school    3  4 

Community  training  school 1  5 

Sunday  school   only 166  27 

Special  only  71  78 

E.  Hours  per  week  devoted  to  teaching. 

TABLE  NO.  43 
Two  hundred  and  ninety-three  out  of  324  schools  report  on  this  item. 
The  total  number  of  hours  of  teaching  done  in  all  schools  is  1,586  per  week. 
The  extremes  are  12  minutes  and  32  hours ;  the  median  number  of  hours 
being  4.    The  table  below  shows  the  distribution : 

Under  1  hour 9* 

1  hour  33 

2  hours   16 

3  hours    44 

4  hours    62 

5  hours    29 

6  hours    15 

7  hours    9 

8  hours    23 

9  hours    11 

10  hours    4 

11  hours    3 

12  hours    5 

13  hours    5 

14  hours    0 

15  hours    16 

16  hours    2 

17  hours    0 

18  hours    ■ 5 

Over  18   hours 2t 

Total 293 

*5  schools,  Vs  hour  each;  4  schools,  ^  hour  each. 
t29  hours;  32  hours. 

F.  The  teachers  at  work.  A  later  section  on  The  Teaching  Process 
and  descriptions  of  individual  schools  will  give  in  some  detail  the  work  of 
these  teachers  as  observed. 

SECTION  X.     PUPILS 
A.     Total  number  of  pupils  enrolled. 

TABLE  NO.  44 

total  enrollment  in  week-day  schools 

Three  hundred  schools  out  of  324  report  a  total  enrollment  of  32,128 

pupils.     The  smallest  school  has  4  pupils,  the  largest  519.     The  median 

school  has  an  enrollment  of  106.    The  table  below  shows  the  relative  size  of 

schools : 

50  pupils  or  under 72 

51—100  pupils   71 

101—150  pupils    104 


44  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

151—200  pupils   22 

201—250  pupils    18 

251—300  pupils    2 

301—500  pupils    10 

Over  500  pupils 1* 

Total    300 

*519  pupils. 

B.     Total  number  of  boys  enrolled. 

TABLE  NO.  45 
Three  hundred  schools  out  of  324  report  a  total  number  of  boys  en- 
rolled of  15,536.    The  extremes  are  1  and  244.    The  median  number  of  boys 
is  39.    The  table  below  shows  the  distribution  of  the  boys  enrolled : 

50  boys  and  under 161 

51—100  boys    109 

101—150  boys    19 

151 — 200  boys    10 

Over  200  boys 1* 

Total    300 


*244  boys. 

C.    Total  number  of  girls  enrolled. 

TABLE  NO.  46 
Three  hundred  schools  out  of  324  report  a  total  of   16,592  girls  en- 
rolled.    The  extremes  are  3  and  275.     The  median  number  of  girls  is  28. 
The  table  below  shows  the  distribution  of  the  girls  enrolled : 

50  girls  and  under 166 

51—100  girls    107 

101—150  girls     16 

151—200  girls    9 

Over  200  girls 2* 

Total    300 


*203  girls;  275  girls. 

D.     Enrollment  of  pupils  by  grades. 

TABLE  NO.  47 
The   following  table   gives   the   enrollment  by   grades   of   the   several 
schools.    The  total  in  this  case  is  somewhat  less  than  that  given  in  the  Total 
Enrollment  Table,  due  to  the  fact  that  fevvcr  schools  report  detailed  statistics 
as  to  grade  enrollment: 


Reporting 

Reporting 

Average 

Not 

but 

and 

Total 

number 

reporting 

Reporting 

not  giving 

giving 

number 

in  each 

Grade 

a  class 

a  class 

figures 

figures 

of  pupils 

grade 

Kindergarten 

.  .      283 

41 

16 

25 

271 

11 

1st    

.  .      169 

155 

37 

118 

2,325 

20 

2d 

.  .      154 

170 

39 

131 

2,679 

21 

3d 

.  .      104 

220 

43 

177 

3,495 

20 

4th   

88 

236 

45 

191 

3,769 

19 

5th   

58 

266 

60 

206 

3,654 

18 

6th   

56 

268 

59 

209 

3,861 

18 

7th    

.  .      108 

216 

55 

161 

2,027 

13 

8th    

.  .      129 

195 

51 

144 

1,606 

11 

I  H.  S 

.  .      184 

140 

54 

86 

515 

6 

II  H.  S 

.  .      194 

130 

52 

78 

356 

5 

Ill  H.  S 

..      196 

128 

54 

74 

248 

3 

IV  H.  S 

.  .      198 

126 

53 

74 

300 

4 

25,106 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  43 

E.     Present  enrollment  compared  with  last  year. 

TABLE  NO.  48 
(1920-21  and  1921-22} 
Seventy-six  schools  give  their  enrolhnent  for  both  the  present  year  and 
a  year  ago.    The  facts  are  as  follows : 

Schools  reporting  same  enrollment   7 

Schools  reporting  decrease  in  enrollment 34 

Schools  reporting  increase  in  enrollment 35 

Total  76 

Total  decrease  reported  by  34  schools   1,183 

Total  increase  reported  by  35  schools    1,000 

Net  decrease 183 

Enrollment  reported  a  year  ago  by  the  76  schools 10,595 

Enrollment  reported  this  year  by  the  76  schools 10,412 


Decrease    183 

F.  Percentage  of  attendance.  The  schools  reporting  were  asked 
to  determine  the  total  attendance  of  the  class  for  the  first  eight  weeks  of 
the  present  school  year  as  follows :  Attendance  at  first  session,  plus  attend- 
ance at  second  session,  and  so  on  for  eight  weeks.  The  total  possible  at- 
tendance for  the  same  period  was  to  be  found  as  follows:  Total  on  the 
class  roll  at  the  first  session,  plus  total  on  the  class  roll  at  second  session, 
and  so  on  for  eight  weeks.  From  these  two  totals  (actual  attendance  and 
possible  attendance)  the  percentage  of  attendance  was  found.  In  a  few 
cases  the  schools  reported  their  percentage  obtained  in  other  ways.  The 
endeavor  was  to  arrive  at  a  uniform  method  and  base  computation  on  the 
attendance  at  the  same  period  of  time  in  all  schools.  The  figures  are  given 
in  the  table  below: 

TABLE  NO.  49 

percentage  of  attendance 

One  hundred  and  fifty-nine  schools  give  figures  as  to  attendance  which 

make  possible  the  calculation  of  a  percentage.    The  extremes  of  attendance 

are  50%  and  100%.     The  median  percentage  is  91  and  the  distribution  as 

shown  in  the  following  table : 

96%— 100% 16                   71%>— 75% 6 

91%_  95% 67                   66%— 70% 5 

86%—  90% 35                    61%— 65%7 1 

81%—  85%) 21                    

76%—  80% 5                                50%) 3 

Total 159 

G.  Who  are  these  pupils?  This  question  has  been  discussed  to 
considerable  extent  in  previous  sections  of  the  report,  particularly  under 
the  headings  "Relations  to  Public  Schools"  and  "Relations  to  the  Church 
and  Sunday  School."  There  is  little  statistical  information  to  oflfer  apart 
from  that  given  in  those  sections.  Personal  observation  would  lead  the  sur- 
veyor to  say  that  their  character  and  the  social  conditions  surrounding  them 
varies  as  it  does  in  the  several  types  of  communities  surveyed  which  have  been 
treated  in  numerous  other  studies  and  cannot  be  further  dealt  with  here. 

The  attitude  of  these  pupils  to  the  week-day  school  is  varied.  Some 
appear  to  come  because  of  the  newness  of  the  affair;  others  with  more 
depth  of  interest  crave  activity.  In  the  case  of  the  latter  it  was  evident,  as 
has  been  pointed  out,  that  a  number  were  really  interested  in  serious  study 


46  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

and  were  attracted  on  that  account.  In  general,  it  is  the  observation  of  the 
surveyor  that  there  is  a  far  greater  attention  to  work  in  these  schools  than  in 
the  average  Sunday  school,  although  there  are  a  great  many  week-day 
schools  which  are  little,  if  any,  better  than  the  average  Sunday  school. 

SECTION  XL     THE  CURRICULUM 

The  scope  of  this  survey  is  such  that  it  does  not  aim  to  include  an 
evaluation  of  existing  curricula  which  are  being  used  in  these  week-day 
schools.  It  does  consider  as  its  field,  however,  the  gathering  of  statistical 
information  as  to  what  courses  of  study  are  being  used  and  personal  ob- 
servation as  to  theories  of  the  curriculum  held  by  those  working  in  the 
various  schools  visited. 

A.  Courses  of  study  used  in  the  various  schools. 

TABLE  NO.  50 

Three  hundred  and  fourteen  schools  report  regarding  the  course  of 
study  used.  Because  many  of  them,  however,  report  the  use  of  several 
courses  in  combination,  it  is  hardly  possible  to  make  any  tabulation  which 
will  give  mutually  exclusive  figures.  The  following  table  shows  the  use 
of  certain  courses  used  alone  and  in  combination  with  others : 

Number  of  schools     Number  of  schools 
using  this  using  this  course 

Name  of  Course  course  only         along  with  others 

Bible 21  27 

Gary  Leaflets   27  10 

Abingdon    41  37 

Scribner's 2  21 

University  of  Chicago 9  16 

Westminster     13  7 

Keystone    3  1 

Lutheran 10  6 

Christian   Nurture    12  4 

Roman  Catholic   1  0 

Other  Sunday  School  literature...       5  4 

Protestant  Teachers'  Association . .      13  *  0 

Latter   Day   Saints 27  0 

Brooklyn  Sunday  School  Assn....       3  0 

Graded  Bible  Stories   (Mutch) ....       4  0 

Toledo   Course    24  0 

Lansing  Syllabus  1  0 

Oklahoma  City  Syllabus 1  0 

B.  Personal  observations  on  curricula.  From  visitation  of  schools 
and  conversations  with  the  leaders  the  following  general  comments  are  made 
regarding  views  of  the  curriculum  held  and  the  use  of  curriculum  material. 

L  There  is  considerable  disagreement  as  to  what  constitutes  a  course 
of  study  among  the  leaders  in  the  week-day  movement.  Since  this  has  been 
discussed  more  fully  under  the  section  on  Aims,  it  is  necessary  only  to 
recall  what  has  been  said  there. 

2.  In  general,  it  may  be  said  that  the  knowledge  view  predominates.  The 
curriculum  is  thought  of  as  a  body  of  information  which  is  to  be  given  to 
the  child  by  one  method  or  another.  Very  frequently  the  idea  was  expressed 
that  if  the  proper  texts  could  be  secured  the  work  of  teaching  would  go  on 
without  difficulty.  The  emphasis  on  memory  work  was  outstanding  in 
classes  observed.  In  several  schools  visited  the  children  were  put  through 
their  work  particularly  to  show  the  visitor  what  they  had  learned.     One 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  47 

leader  went  so  far  as  to  repeat  the  entire  first  part  of  the  class  period  because 
the  visitor  had  come  late  and  had  missed  the  drills.  The  theory  is  that 
about  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  store  the  child's  mind  with  the  "gems"  and 
facts  of  the  Bible  and  the  task  is  then  complete. 

3.  There  is  a  notable  absence  of  worship  in  most  of  the  schools.  The 
public-school  atmosphere  and  the  stress  upon  accumulation  of  knowledge 
mentioned  above  leaves  little  room  for  the  development  of  attitudes.  The 
surveyor  was  struck  particularly  with  the  intellectual  nature  of  the  worship 
which  was  provided.  The  prayers  were  rehearsed  rather  than  prayed.  The 
songs  were  learned  as  content  material  rather  than  sung  in  a  devotional 
attitude.  The  information-acquiring  spirit  crowded  out  feeling.  There  were 
some  exceptions,  to  be  sure.  One  pastor  with  an  evident  appreciation  of  the 
place  of  worship  carried  out  a  brief  service  of  worship,  with  a  story  sermon 
at  the  center,  as  a  preliminary  to  the  other  work  of  the  session.  He  took 
the  children  and  teachers  to  the  beautiful  surroundings  of  his  church 
auditorium  and  removed  them  for  twenty-five  minutes  from  the  dirty  sur- 
roundings of  the  city  streets  upon  which  they  played,  and  he  led  them  to 
feel  the  presence  of  God.  In  a  few  schools  the  worshipful  attitude  was 
woven  into  the  lesson-discussion  in  a  natural  way  with  considerable  stress 
laid  upon  the  feeling  element.  Some  worship  was  precluded  by  the  noisy 
manner  in  which  the  school  was  carried  on.  On  the  whole,  less  worship 
seems  to  be  evident  in  the  week-day  schools  than  in  our  Sunday  schools  at 
the  present  time. 

4.  The  same  criticism  may  be  made  with  reference  to  activity  and 
service  projects.  The  knowledge  view  shut  out  this  aspect  in  the  minds  of 
many  of  the  leaders.  Practically  all  who  did  have  a  place  for  activity  tacked 
it  on  without  reference  to  Christian  motivation.  Handwork  was  of  the 
characteristic  kind  and  in  most  cases  was  confined  to  coloring  pictures  and 
tracing  memory  texts.  In  a  few  cases  children  were  making  things  for 
others.  The  relation  of  activity  to  other  phases  of  the  curriculum,  seems 
not  to  be  understood  by  most  leaders,  but  is  given  a  place,  provided  the 
time  schedule  permits,  because  it  is  the  thing  to  be  done  in  modern  religious 
education.  The  idea  back  of  the  activity  is  that  of  reviewing  or  making 
permanent  the  impression  (intellectual  idea)  gained  in  the  lesson. 

5.  Rarely  did  the  surveyor  find  any  conception  of  the  curriculum  as 
being  concerned  with  problems  which  the  child  has  to  face  today.  Where 
the  practical  problems  were  brought  in  they  were  limited  to  illustrations  of 
possible  future  action  and  not  viewed  as  being  the  basic  experience  to  which 
the  child  was  to  be  introduced.  Social  justice,  fair  play  in  games,  peace, 
local  color  and  race  distinctions  were  notably  absent.  In  a  few  schools  an 
offering  was  taken  in  milk  bottles  for  hungry  babies,  but  it  was  rather  ex- 
ceptional and  confined  to  one  system.  The  difficulties  of  Moses,  the  com- 
mandment regarding  coveting  one's  neighbor's  wife  (early  adolescents)  and 
David's  combat  with  Goliath  were  characteristic  of  the  content  material. 
One  would  think  there  were  no  experiences  of  today  worth  the  child's  con- 
sideration to  judge  from  the  majority  of  lessons  used. 

6.  In  a  number  of  schools  there  was  noticed  considerable  emphasis 
upon  sectarianism  and  dogmatic  interpretation.  It  is  a  notable  character- 
istic, however,  of  these  new  schools,  that,  as  compared  with  the  Sunday 
school,  they  are  quite  free  from  such  matters.  The  very  nature  of  the  or- 
ganization seems  to  have  made  necessary  the  omission  of  these  matters  for 


48  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

the  most  part.  The  churches  which  have  stressed  their  own  creeds  give 
way,  in  the  case  of  week-day  instruction,  and  common  fundamentals  are  the 
rule. 

7.  When  it  comes  to  questions  of  interpretation  it  is  not  so  favorable 
a  matter.  The  stress  in  most  of  the  schools  is  upon  the  more  conservative 
methods  and  views.  In  the  case  of  individual  schools  which  are  under  local 
church  control  it  is  very  often  the  desire  to  be  orthodox  that  has  prevented 
joining  with  others  in  a  neighborhood  school.  In  the  case  of  others  where  a 
common  curriculum  is  the  basis  of  instruction,  there  is  a  noticeable  avoid- 
ance of  modern  views  for  fear  of  offense.  The  common  course  of  study  is 
often  bought  at  the  price  of  modern  thinking.  One  prominent  pastor  of  a 
denomination  not  known  for  its  radical  views  stated  that  if  Daniel  in  the 
Lions'  Den  was  to  be  interpreted  literally,  he  did  not  want  his  boy  to  be 
taught  that  way.  In  a  few  schools  of  the  individual  church  type  historical 
and  literary  methods  were  in  evidence  but  they  were  the  notable  exceptions. 

8.  There  is  one  hopeful  sign  about  the  matter  of  curriculum  and  that 
is  the  widespread  dissatisfaction  with  what  is  to  be  had  in  the  matter  of 
courses.  In  but  a  few  places  did  the  observer  find  evidences  of  satisfaction. 
There  is  a  feeling  that  something  new  in  the  way  of  a  course  of  study  is  yet 
to  be.  evolved.  No  one  is  sure  just  what  it  should  be,  but  there  is  a  dim 
expression  of  the  fact  that  it  will  be  different.  The  week-day  school  is 
pitched  higher  than  existing  religious  education  agencies  in  that  it  is  a  school 
and  the  old  stories,  even  though  dressed  up,  fail  to  do  the  thing  that  many 
are  hoping  for.  Time  and  again  directors  and  teachers  assured  the  surveyor 
that  they  were  just  experimenting  with  a  course  of  study.  Many  are  build- 
ing a  course  of  their  own ;  others  use  eclectic  courses.  In  spite  of  chaotic 
conditions  as  to  the  curriculum  one  may  look  for  a  ready  acceptance  of  the 
newer  views  of  the  curriculum  if  experimentation  can  show  those  views 
to  be  sound. 

SECTION  XII.    THE  TEACHING  PROCESS 

A.  Introduction.  The  close  relationship  of  this  section  of  the  report 
to  the  other  sections  and  particularly  those  dealing  with  Aims  and  Curricu- 
lum is  obvious.  A  better  understanding  of  the  process  of  teaching  as  it  is 
carried  on  in  most  of  the  schools  necessitates  a  study  of  those  sections  along 
with  the  one  under  present  consideration.  It  is  also  clear  that  here  no 
lengthy  description  can  be  given  of  details  of  teaching.  The  descriptions 
of  individual  schools  in  the  appendix  to  this  report  will  give  a  better  idea  of 
these  details.  The  purpose  of  this  section  is  that  of  general  description  and 
evaluation  only. 

B.  The  methods  of  teaching  observed.  As  in  any  kind  of  educational 
work  various  methods  of  teaching  were  found.  There  is  perhaps  a  wider 
variation  of  methods  here  than  in  either  the  Sunday  school  or  the  public 
school  because  of  the  fact  that  this  movement  partakes  of  characteristics 
of  both.  Hence  it  is  difficult  to  make  any  inclusive  statement  and  say  that 
the  teaching  observed  was  of  such  and  such  a  type.  A  grouping,  however, 
such  as  the  following,  seems  feasible  and  will  include  most  of  the  work 
of  teaching  as  seen  by  the  surveyor. 

1.  The  catechetical  type.  This  method  of  class-work  in  week-day 
schools  is  not  very  common  except  in  certain  denominations  which  have 
stressed  that  kind  of  teaching  in  their  Sunday  schools  and  pastors'  classes. 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  49 


The  week-day  school  has  given  opportunity  to  add  to  the  amount  of  teaching 
that  can  be  done,  but,  for  the  most  part,  these  denominations  have  used  the 
same  method  of  teaching.  In  a  few  cases  where  these  churches  have  joined 
in  a  system  school  with  other  churches,  the  common  course  of  study  has 
brought  with  it  other  methods  of  teaching,  such  as  those  which  are  described 
below.  The  catechetical  method  is  so  well  understood  as  to  need  no  explana- 
tion. 

2.  Preaching  methods.  By  this  is  meant  the  moralizing  and  hortatory 
types  of  work  such  as  might  characterize  the  delivery  of  a  sermon.  This 
kind  of  teaching  was  not  found  in  any  school  exclusively  but  was  rather  a 
matter  of  individual  personality  than  method.  A  woman  in  a  downtown 
church  in  a  large  city  was  preaching  to  a  group  of  very  bad  boys  and  they 
were  enduring  it  only  for  the  sake  of  the  manual  training  work  which  was 
to  follow.  One  school  reports  mass  teaching  of  many  children  in  one  group 
with  evident  stress  laid  upon  such  sermonizing.  The  fact  that  many  min- 
isters are  teaching  in  these  schools  tends  to  result  in  more  of  such  teaching 
than  would  otherwise  exist.  In  fact,  this  is  a  criticism  made  by  public- 
school  men  with  reference  to  the  current  teaching.  The  preaching  view- 
point is  quite  apart  from  the  methods  now  in  use  in  the  public  educational 
field.  It  is  only  fair  to  say  that  a  number  of  ministers  who  have  caught 
the  educational  viewpoint  are  seeking  to  adapt  their  teaching  methods 
accordingly.  Some  of  these  have  had  the  advantage  of  study  in  modern 
educational  theory. 

3.  Story-telling.  This  method  is  used  in  a  considerable  proportion  of 
schools  in  one  way  or  another.  In  some  it  is  the  center  of  the  class  work  in 
the  lower  grades  as  in  the  Sunday  school.  In  others  it  is  used  even  in  the 
upper  grades.  One  large  system  lays  emphasis  upon  the  story-telling  method. 
In  two  other  systems  the  story  told  by  the  leader  to  the  entire  group  forms 
the  center  of  the  work  done.  There  is  sometimes  story  development  by 
means  of  questioning,  but  more  frequently  the  questions  serve  to  review  the 
story.  Since  there  is  little  studying  done  on  account  of  lack  of  time  and 
failure  to  emphasize  study  in  the  religious  education  field,  the  story-telling 
method  of  getting  information  across  is  rather  common.  The  ability  of  the 
teachers  as  story-tellers  varies  greatly  and  no  estimate  can  be  made  which 
is  true  of  all  of  them. 

4.  Formal  drill  and  memory  zvork.  This  method  is  also  quite  prevalent, 
as  the  descriptions  of  individual  schools  will  show.  Since  great  stress  has 
been  laid  upon  the  fact  that  what  is  needed  is  knowledge  of  the  Bible,  a 
consequence  has  been  insistence  upon  drilling  upon  the  names  of  the  books, 
memorizing  the  various  portions,  such  as  the  Psalms,  Beatitudes,  Christmas 
story.  Ten  Commandments,  and  the  like.  Many  of  the  schools  consider 
their  efficiency  measured  by  the  amount  of  this  work  they  are  able  to  do. 
Rivalry  and  desire  for  the  praise  of  teachers  and  others  is  appealed  to  in 
order  to  secure  results.  One  class  visited  repeated  memory  gems  from  the 
Bible  for  twenty  minutes  without  stopping.  Others  had  committed  a  re- 
markable amount  of  scripture. 

5.  Lecture-discussion  method.  In  no  school  was  the  lecture  method 
used  entirely,  although  in  a  few  instances  this  condition  was  almost  realized. 
Generally  provision  was  made  for  some  discussion.  The  teachers  in  most 
cases  did  the  greater  share  of  the  talking.  The  usual  type  was  that  of  ques- 
tions to  bring  out  the  lesson  story  supplemented  by  the  teacher's  contribu- 


50  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

tion.  The  aim,  in  practically  all  such  classes,  however,  was  to  get  across 
certain  ideas  involved  in  the  topic  for  the  day.  By  telling  and  by  question- 
ing the  teacher  covered  the  ground  of  the  story  or  topic.  In  one  class  visited, 
where  the  story,  lecture  and  discussion  methods  were  all  used,  part  of  the 
time  was  taken  with  a  written  examination  upon  previous  work  done.  The 
pupils  went  at  it  in  a  studious  way  and  acted  much  as  they  would  have 
done  in  public  school. 

6.  Directed  social  activity  method.  By  this  method  is  meant  that 
which  is  being  stressed  in  many  of  our  public  schools  at  the  present  time. 
The  teaching  process  seeks  to  secure  self -initiated  and  self -directed  activity 
prompted  by  a  social  motive  from  the  pupils.  The  teacher  guides,  stimu- 
lates, and  directs  rather  than  drives  or  forces  the  activity  and  discussion.  A 
real  life-problem  or  project  is  the  teaching  unit  rather  than  the  lesson  or 
printed  subject-matter.  From  the  standpoint  of  religious  education  as  it 
exists  at  the  present  time  this  theory  has  had  many  applications.  Two 
general  aspects  may  be  discovered  by  grouping  these  several  types  of 
activity-teaching.  One  group  of  religious  educators  in  these  week-day 
schools  is  emphasizing  the  "expression"  of  the  lesson  by  handwork, 
dramatics,  and  the  like ;  another  group  seeks  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  the 
activity  is  one  with  the  lesson  itself.  In  one  case  it  is  tacked  on  to  the  idea 
to  make  it  more  vivid,  to  ensure  its  carrying  over ;  in  the  other  the  idea  is 
found  only  as  the  activity  is  engaged  in  and  not  before.  The  activity  in  the 
latter  case  is  motivated  not  by  the  desire  to  impress  the  idea  but  by  some  such 
religious  motive  as  service,  self-development,  or  desire  to  worship.  The  fol- 
lowing table  will  give  some  idea  of  the  amount  of  activity  engaged  in  by  the 
various  schools.  It  does  not,  however,  give  any  idea  as  to  the  way  in  which 
this  activity  is  utilized  in  the  process  of  teaching. 

TABLE  NO.  51 

OTHER    ACTIVITIES 

The  following  table  shows  the  extent  to  which  the  several  schools  in- 
clude other  activities  in  their  program  of  work : 

Number  not    Number  Reporting  Reporting 

Activity                                reporting     reporting  "Yes"  "No" 

Worship    76                 248  231  17 

Handwork    23                 301  283  18 

Dramatics 143                 181  162  19 

Play    219                  105  63  42 

Giving  money 212                 112  64  48 

Service    projects    198                  126  89  37 

The  surveyor  found  that  a  considerable  number  of  schools  were  utilizing 
the  activity  idea  in  their  methods  of  teaching.  For  the  most  part,  however, 
the  activity  was  viewed  as  an  additional  means  of  making  clear  or  vivid  the 
idea  of  the  lesson.  Handwork-expression  in  the  form  of  coloring  pictures 
or  verses  of  scripture  or  filling  note-books  was  very  common.  In  several 
schools  pupils  sawed  out  the  ark  or  the  Christmas  star  with  jig-saws  as 
expressional  activity.  This  activity  was  motivated  by  no  other  desire  than 
to  do  something,  or  be  busy  in  some  cases.  In  a  few  there  was  found  the 
presence  of  a  real  Christian  motive.  One  class  was  planning  and  preparing 
to  construct  a  doll's  house  for  the  kindergarten  class  within  their  own  school. 
In  another  group  little  girls  were  sewing  doll's  clothes  for  other  children  at 
Christmas  time.     In  the  case  of  the  construction  of  the  doll's  house  the 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  51 

teaching  process  was  centered  about  the  activity  itself  rather  than  being 
regarded  as  an  added  affair  more  or  less  related  to  some  previously  chosen 
topic.  The  making  of  the  doll's  house  ivas  the  lesson;  it  determined  the  dis- 
cussion and  the  activity  which  engaged  the  sessions  of  the  class. 

C.  Comparison  with  public  school  methods.  One  who  is  familiar 
with  the  methods  now  being  used  in  our  best  public  schools  is  aware  that 
some  described  above  are  now  obsolete  from  the  standpoint  of  educational 
theory.  When  the  principles  and  methods  of  teaching  in  general  are  applied 
to  the  field  of  religious  education  and  proper  adaptations  are  made  to  fit 
that  field  we  find  that  many  week-day  schools  are  far  behind  as  to  the  best 
methods.  The  evaluation  of  these  schools  from  this  angle  is  summed  up  in 
the  following  paragraphs : 

1.  From  the  standpoint  of  activity.  There  is  little  worthwhile  activity 
at  the  center  of  the  teaching  process  in  the  week-day  schools.  The  pupils 
rarely  reveal  any  immediate  interest  in  the  work  itself.  Some  derived  inter- 
est is  usually  appealed  to,  such  as  an  excuse  from  public  school,  pleasing  of 
parents  and  pastors,  rivalry,  self-esteem,  and  the  like.  The  thing  being 
done  is  not  an  enterprise  which  the  pupil  has  purposed  for  himself.  Nor  is 
there  any  indication  that  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases  the  pupil  is  to  any 
degree  directing  the  activity  or  even  entering  whole-heartedly  into  it  at 
the  teacher's  suggestion.  For  the  most  part  activity  is  lacking.  About  all 
that  one  sees  in  the  class-room  is  passivity  while  the  teacher  draws  out  or 
explains  the  idea.  Little  group-feeling  or  democratic  cooperation  in  com- 
mon enterprises  is  manifest.  In  only  rare  instances  is  the  activity  motivated 
by  a  Christian  purpose  as  above  suggested. 

2.  From  the  standpoint  of  thinking.  Very  little  of  the  thought  that 
takes  place  is  concerned  with  the  living  problems  of  everyday  Christianity. 
Most  of  it  has  to  do  with  Moses  or  David  or  Paul.  The  issues  of  today  are 
in  the  majority  of  schools  ignored.  Where  they  are  touched  upon  they  are 
but  suggested  as  applications  of  abstract  virtues.  One  observes  little  real 
thinking  going  on.  Time  and  time  again  when  the  pupils  showed  signs  of 
thinking  over  their  present  problems  they  were  stifled  by  the  teacher  anxious 
to  go  on  with  the  lesson.  The  pupils  often  wanted  to  grow  but  the  teacher's 
plan  stood  in  the  way.  The  experience  of  the  home,  the  playground,  the 
public  school,  or  the  Sunday  school  were  quite  isolated  from  the  content 
material  and  the  teaching  process  alike  in  the  week-day  school.  Most  of 
the  teachers  knew  little  of  what  the  pupils  were  thinking  in  the  work  of  the 
public  school.  The  playground  problems  were  absent  except  in  vague  and 
widespread  applications.  To  be  sure,  there  were  some  teachers  who  thought 
in  terms  which  were  familiar  to  their  children  and  allowed  the  problems  they 
were  trying  to  solve  have  right  of  way  over  the  course  of  study,  but  they 
were  few. 

3.  From  the  standpoint  of  attitudes.  These  classes,  as  has  been  pre- 
viously said,  fail  to  take  worship  seriously  as  an  element  of  religious  educa- 
tion. It  is  left  to  Sunday  or  abbreviated  to  enable  the  lesson  material  to 
be  covered.  Rarely  did  the  attitude  striven  for  have  any  connection  with 
the  activity  or  thinking  of  the  child.  It  was  an  isolated  experience.  Very 
often  it  was  formal  and  consisted  in  the  repetition  of  prayers  with  intel- 
lectual content  crowding  out  reverence  or  gratitude  or  other  feelings.  This 
unfavorable  criticism  does  not  contradict  the  fact  that  some  teachers  did 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 


conceive  of  worship  and  the  development  of  attitudes  as  an  integral  part 
of  their  teaching  process  and  strove  to  lead  their  children  to  worship  natur- 
ally. The  surveyor  recalls  a  most  effective  prayer  service  in  the  midst  of  the 
most  unfavorable  surroundings,  which  was  brought  about  because  the 
teacher  fused  into  one  the  service  work,  the  discussion  and  the  feelings 
aroused  thereby  and  prayed  in  terms  of  the  life  situations  which  the  boys 
and  girls  were  then  facing. 

These  criticisms  may  seem  harsh,  but  they  are  not  the  views  of  the 
surveyor  only.  A  half  dozen  or  more  of  city  superintendents  give  essentially 
the  same  criticisms  in  one  form  or  another.  Particularly  is  this  true  with 
reference  to  those  aspects  of  the  teaching  process  which  are  common  to  the 
public-education  and  religious-education  fields.  Self-activity,  problem- 
project  methods,  democratic  cooperation,  and  socialized  recitations,  such  as 
characterize  the  methods  of  teaching  in  the  best  public-school  systems,  must 
prevail  in  the  week-day  schools,  if  they  are  to  hold  the  respect  of  public- 
education  officials  as  educational  institutions.  The  general  conviction  among 
these  men  is  that  the  week-day  movement  is  superior  from  the  educational 
standpoint  to  the  Sunday  school,  but  considerably  inferior  to  the  public 
school. 

When  it  comes  to  a  matter  of  the  method  of  teaching  which  involves 
character  formation  the  same  criticism  holds  good.  The  method  of  ethical 
instruction  and  character  building,  which  is  now  so  fundamental  a  part  of 
the  public-school  program  in  its  purpose  of  Americanization,  is  not  that  of 
text-book  study  of  ideas  about  ethical  or  democratic  obligations,  but  rather 
an  inclusive  program  of  activities  such  that  the  social  interactions  with  those 
already  Americans  produce  the  character  desired.  It  is  upon  this  fact,  com- 
mon to  both  the  method  of  the  week-day  school  and  the  public  school,  that 
further  emphasis  must  be  laid.  Since  the  week-day  schools  have  sought 
and  obtained  a  share  of  the  time  of  the  child  from  the  public  school  they 
must  seek  the  best  possible  methods  of  teaching.  Practically  every  super- 
intendent who  expressed  an  opinion  relative  to  the  character  of  the  teaching 
process  voiced  this  feeling.  There  was  no  thought  of  threatening  the 
privileges  granted  the  week-day  schools,  but  the  earnest  hope  that  the 
methods  would  soon  come  up  to  the  standards  set  by  modern  educational 
theory.  One  superintendent  who  has  been  an  earnest  advocate  of  the  week- 
day schools  of  religion  in  his  community  stated  that  the  teaching  being 
done  is  fifty  percent  poorer  than  that  of  a  year  ago,  when  the  schools  were 
first  established.  At  that  time  he  urged  the  establishment  of  but  a  few 
schools  or  preferably  one  center,  where  an  experiment  could  be  made  and 
a  high  quality  of  teaching  done.  In  his  opinion  the  movement  there  has  been 
too  hasty  and  on  too  large  a  scale  and  the  result  has  been  very  unsatis- 
factory.   A  similar  complaint  was  made  by  two  other  superintendents. 

SECTION  XIII.     SIGNIFICANT  TENDENCIES 

The  aim  of  this  brief  section  is  to  point  out  several  significant  tendencies 
which  should  be  taken  into  account  in  making  an  evaluation  of  the  present 
status  of  the  week-day  movement.  Some  of  these  have  been  previously  dis- 
cussed from  various  angles,  but  are  set  forth  here  for  the  sake  of  clarity. 

A.  The  experimental  attitude.  A  frequent  explanation  of  a  num- 
ber of  promoters  of  schools  with  reference  to  the  number  of  grades  taught 
was  given  by  saying  that  the  school  was  an  experiment  and  they  wanted 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  53 


to  begin  on  a  modest  scale.  This  attitude  is  further  emphasized  in  the  matter 
of  curriculum.  Eclectic  courses  are  frequently  found  even  within  any  single 
denomination,  which  bodes  well  for  future  prospects  along  this  line.  The 
general  attitude  toward  the  survey  has  been  that  of  seeking  ways  and  means 
rather  than  endeavoring  to  propagate  pet  schem.es.  This  attitude  is  par- 
ticularly true  in  the  case  of  those  who  are  actually  doing  the  teaching. 

B.  Changes  in  organization.  Two  places  have  made  sweeping 
changes  in  the  case  of  the  organization  of  schools.  There  is  reason  to  believe 
that  other  places  may  do  likewise  before  the  movement  is  very  much  older. 
In  one  case  the  pure  community  type  of  organization  has  been  displaced  by 
a  type  which  brings  the  system  in  closer  touch  with  the  churches.  In  the 
other,  single  schools  united  to  form  a  more  efficient  and  less  sectarian  system. 
With  the  variety  of  governments  and  types  of  organization  now  existing  we 
may  expect,  as  time  goes  on,  that  further  adaptations  will  be  made  to 
strengthen  the  work  from  many  viewpoints. 

C.  Loss  OF  INTEREST.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  in  a  few  communities 
where  the  stimulus  for  the  founding  schools  has  been  the  foresight  of  a 
pastor  and  where  the  type  founded  has  been  that  of  individual  schools  or 
denominational-cooperating  schools  there  is  a  tendency  to  lose  interest.  The 
removal  of  the  pastor,  the  natural  decline  of  the  original  enthusiasm,  to- 
gether with  failure  to  adopt  any  new  methods,  have  resulted  in  some  loss  of 
interest.    This  is  not  widespread,  but  is  worth  noting. 

D.  Rivalry  for  control  of  the  movement.  From  several  sections 
of  the  report  it  will  be  noted  that  the  movement  for  week-day  schools  lacks 
central  direction  and  control.  The  many  agencies  concerned  in  the  establish- 
ment of  schools,  together  with  the  several  types  of  organization  with  refer- 
ence to  relations  to  local  churches  or  to  public  schools,  have  brought  about 
a  spirit  of  competition  in  the  further  direction  of  the  movement.  From 
some  standpoints  this  is  an  advantage.  From  others  it  is  likely  to  prove 
disastrous.  Individuals,  church  leaders,  disciples  of  various  religious-educa- 
tional theories,  conservative  and  liberal  theologians,  local  public-school  men, 
and  the  like,  have  in  some  cases  sought  strenuously  to  frame  the  policies  for 
guiding  this  new  type  of  school.  The  motives  are  of  a  more  or  less  desirable 
character. 

E.  Attitude  of  public-school  officials.  The  nature  of  this  attitude 
has  already  been  discussed  in  previous  sections  of  the  report.  So  far  it  has 
been  a  matter  of  individual  attitude  determined  by  local  conditions.  There 
seems  to  be  a  feeling,  however,  that  some  more  clear-cut  policy  should  be 
worked  out.  Few  of  the  public-school  men  are  satisfied  with  matters  as  they 
stand,  but,  because  they  are  not  opposed  to  the  movement  for  religious  edu- 
cation, they  say  little  that  could  be  classed  as  complaint.  Out  of  fairness 
to  the  child's  total  educational  program  there  should  be  a  close  cooperation 
as  to  time  schedules,  methods  of  teaching  and  ultimate  aims.  Adjustments 
in  local  situations  will  not  settle  this  fundamental  problem. 

F.  Opportunity  for  guidance.  The  above  suggestions  are  suf- 
ficient to  indicate  the  fact  that  the  movement  needs  guidance.  That  is,  it 
needs  help  and  friendly  suggestion  rather  than  control.  The  very  diversity 
of  organization,  teaching  methods  and  other  features,  coupled  with  the  ex- 
perimental attitude,  will  result  in  solutions  of  the  general  problems  of 
religious  education  which  have  heretofore  been  extremely  difficult.  Tradi- 
tional ways  have  very  often  been  disregarded  in  this  new  institution  and  new 


54  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

methods  will  undoubtedly  follow.  All  that  is  needed,  then,  is  wise  and 
impartial  study  on  the  part  of  friends  and  not  partisans.  In  view  of  this 
condition  the  recommendations  in  the  following  sections  are  made. 

SECTION  XIV.    RECOMMENDATIONS 

In  the  light  of  the  information  contained  in  the  foregoing  report  the 
surveyor  recommends  the  following : 

A.  Centralized  guidance.  The  creation  or  utilization  of  some  central 
agency  which  shall  study  the  problems  of  the  week-day  movement  and  demo- 
cratically assist  it  to  develop.  Such  an  agency  should  not  be  regarded  as 
exercising  control,  but  rather  as  a  clearing  house  for  ideas  and  experiments 
made  in  the  several  schools  and  systems.  Such  an  agency  should  be  disinter- 
ested, representative  of  all  interests,  have  the  experimental  attitude,  maintain 
a  professional  standard  in  matters  of  religious  education  and  hold  the  con- 
fidence of  those  who  are  authorities  in  the  field  of  public  education. 

B.  Experimentation.  An  avowedly  experimental  attitude  should  be 
maintained  with  reference  to  many  phases  of  the  movement  for  some  time  to 
come.  Matters  of  curricula  material,  types  of  organization,  and  methods  of 
teaching  in  particular  need  careful  scientific  study  before  standardized  types 
of  work  are  recommended.  Certain  schools  should  be  chosen  as  distinctly 
experimental  centers  where,  under  controlled  conditions,  these  matters  and 
others  can  be  carefully  and  minutely  studied.  The  existing  schools,  while 
possessed  of  the  open-minded  attitude,  are  hampered  in  a  number  of  ways. 
Some  encouragement  and  direction  should  be  given  and,  if  necessary, 
financial  aid  granted, 

C.  Correlation  with  other  religious  educational  agencies.  An 
endeavor  should  be  made  in  some  way  to  secure  a  correlation  of  the  new 
agencies  now  seeking  to  give  religious  direction  to  the  life  of  the  child. 
Aspects  of  this  problem  are  suggested  in  the  body  of  the  report.  It  would 
seem  that  the  time  has  come  to  unify  the  child's  religious  life  and  cease 
dividing  his  interests.  Certain  definite  steps  should  be  taken  to  secure  this 
end.  The  various  agencies  interested  should  be  brought  together  and 
correlation  begun. 

D.  Correlation  with  the  program  of  the  public  school.  In  view 
of  the  present  problems  which  are  suggested  above  by  reason  of  the  near- 
ness of  this  movement  to  the  work  of  the  public-school  system,  there  should 
be  some  steps  taken  to  confer  with  proper  organizations  and  individuals  in 
the  field  of  public  education  to  bring  about  a  satisfactory  agreement  as  to 
the  relations  desirable  between  the  two  aspects  of  the  child's  educational 
program.  Such  an  agreement  should  preserve  the  unity  of  the  child's  expe- 
rience as  far  as  is  humanly  possible. 

APPENDIX 

DESCRIPTIONS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  SCHOOLS  AND  SYSTEMS 

The    following   are  brief    descriptions   of   a   number    of    schools    and 

systems  of  schools  visited  by  the  surveyor.    They  are  given  with  the  aim  of 

setting  forth  the  work  and  problems  of  individual  schools  which  could  not 

be  done  in  the  body  of  the  report. 

SYSTEM   NO.   2 
south  EVANSTON,  ILLINOIS 

1.    Schools.     Although  these  schools  have  been  in  existence  since  the 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  55 

spring  of  1920,  a  number  of  changes  have  taken  place  which  necessitates  an 
historical  statement.  The  system  began  as  a  pure  community  affair  gov- 
erned by  a  Board  of  interested  folks  apart  from  any  control  or  direction  by 
the  churches.  The  classes  were  held  in  12  public-school  buildings  before 
the  schools  opened  in  the  mornings.  Public-school  time  was  sought  but 
refused  partly  on  the  ground  of  a  curriculum  inadequate  from  the  public 
educational  viewpoint.  Thirty-two  teachers,  mostly  pubHc-school  workers, 
did  the  teaching.  Early  in  its  development  financial  troubles  forced  a  reor- 
ganization to  secure  funds  to  maintain  the  work.  By  the  next  Spring  the 
churches  were  governing  the  schools  and  paying  the  bills  through  a  church 
council  of  religious  education.  When  the  work  for  the  fall  of  1921  was 
planned  it  v/as  decided  to  operate  only  three  schools  in  a  portion  of  the  com- 
munity and  to  ask  for  public-school  time  from  the  school  district  in  which 
they  were  located.  By  this  time  a  more  thorough  curriculum  had  been 
worked  out,  and  time  was  granted.  It  is  in  this  district  that  schools  are  at 
present  in  operation.  The  members  of  the  executive  board  (chosen  from 
the  church  council)  living  in  the  remaining  portion  of  the  community  (a 
suburban  residence  city)  feel  the  time  is  not  yet  ripe  to  undertake  the  estab- 
lishment of  schools  there.  The  schools  included  in  this  report  are  those 
three  operated  as  above  indicated. 

2.  Government.  Church  Council  of  Religious  Education  with  an  Ex- 
ecutive Board  and  paid  supervisor. 

3.  Financial  Support.  The  budget  this  year  is  $3,850  for  a  period  of 
32  weeks.  This  pays  the  director  for  one-third  of  his  time  and  the  single 
teacher  employed  for  full  time,  in  addition  to  caring  for  other  expenses. 
The  cost  of  the  school  per  pupil  is  $11.32. 

4.  Relations  to  Public  Schools.  The  public  school  grants  the  use  of 
school  time  for  those  pupils  whose  parents  request  it,  but  assumes  no  re- 
sponsibility for  the  conduct  or  work  of  the  pupils  after  they  have  been 
excused.  The  religious-work  classes  have  been  visited  by  the  public-school 
authorities  and  the  teaching  is  considered  by  them  to  be  good.  This  visit- 
ing was  not  official  for  the  reason  above  stated.  Several  public-school  of- 
ficials feel  that  the  movement  as  a  whole  in  this  community  was  too  hasty 
and  that  exaggerated  ideas  were  gained  by  people  of  its  character.  The 
result  has  been  to  develop  caution  on  the  part  of  these  officials  and  others  who 
might  be  interested.  The  movement  at  the  present  time  is  progressing 
steadily. 

5.  OMcers  and  Teachers.  The  director  and  teacher  above  referred  to 
are  paid  salaries  of  $1,200  and  $1,282.50  per  year,  respectively.  The  director 
has  had  high-school  experience  and  has  taken  graduate  work  in  religious 
education  at  a  leading  university.  The  teacher  has  had  no  public-school 
experience,  but  has  been  a  director  in  a  local  church.  She  is  a  college 
graduate  and  has  studied  religious  education. 

6.  Class-rooms  and  Equipment.  The  class-rooms  are  in  churches,  but 
are  above  the  average.  One  in  which  the  surveyor  observed  several  classes 
was  very  light  and  attractive.  The  rooms  are  equipped  with  chairs  and 
long  folding  tables  and  other  necessary  materials  for  school  work. 

7.  Enrollment  and  Attendance.  The  present  enrollment  is  324,  with 
boys  almost  equal  in  number  to  girls.  The  percentage  of  children  in  some 
Sunday  school  is  91.  The  attendance  percentage  the  past  Fall  session  was 
90.     Most  of  the  pupils  are  from  better-class  homes,  of  which  the  commu- 


56  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

nity  is  largely  made  up.  One  of  the  great  problems  involved  in  this  and 
similar  communities  is  that  of  securing  sufficient  time  for  such  work  as  this 
in  the  face  of  an  extremely  overcrowded  schedule.  Thus  it  is  that  attend- 
ance is  hard  to  secure  no  matter  how  attractive  and  interesting  the  work  mav 
be  made.  Grades  4-8  are  taught,  grade  4  meeting  once  a  week  and  the  re- 
maining grades  twice.    The  class  periods  are  40  minutes  in  length. 

8,     Course  of  Study.     The  Abingdon  Week-Day  Series  is  used  in  all 
the  classes. 

9.  Activity.  Considerable  attention  is  paid  to  worship  and  the  develop- 
ment of  worshipful  attitudes.  The  worship  is  often  fused  with  the  lesson 
and  not  separated.  There  is  little  handwork  except  written  note-book  work. 
Giving  of  money  and  some  dramatization  are  provided. 

10.  Method  of  Teaching.  A  brief  description  of  two  of  the  classes 
observed  is  given  as  illustrative  of  the  kind  of  teaching  being  done. 

In  the  first  class  (5-B)  the  teacher  began  by  asking  the  class  to  come 
to  order  and  saying  that  at  the  close  of  the  hour  she  had  an  announcement 
to  make  regarding  the  class  party.  Two  songs  were  then  sung,  "O  Master 
Workman  of  the  Race"  and  "I  Need  Thee  Every  Hour."  The  singing  was 
done  reverently  and  with  feeling.  "Now  we  are  going  to  look  up  references 
on  prayer,"  said  the  teacher,  "and  find  out  its  meaning."  Then  each  refer- 
ence given  by  the  teacher  was  read  and  its  meaning  discussed.  "What  does 
this  teach  us  about  prayer?"  "Is  a  forced  prayer  acceptable  to  God?"  "I 
think  it  is."  Some  of  the  boys  at  this  point  disagreed  when  given  an  oppor- 
tunity to  express  themselves.  The  teacher  rejoined,  "Don't  think  so  just 
because  I  think  so."  She  then  suggested  they  think  the  matter  over  and  give 
their  opinion  next  time.  Throughout  the  discussion  on  prayer  there  was 
exhibited  considerable  rivalry  among  the  boys,  not  so  much  in  finding  pass- 
ages as  in  explaining  meanings.  Following  this  came  a  period  of  silent  study 
of  the  next  lesson.  The  pupils  appeared  to  apply  themselves  attentively. 
After  this  the  teacher  announced  the  postponement  of  the  party  and  the 
pupils  were  dismissed,  marching  out  of  the  room  to  the  tune  of  "On  Wis- 
consin." They  had  requested  previously  that  the  dismissal  take  place  this 
way.  One  pupil  was  asked  after  class  to  make  a  prayer  at  the  next  session 
and  gave  his  consent. 

A  second  class  of  fifth-grade  boys  and  girls  who  had  just  come  from 
their  recess  period  in  the  afternoon  were  inclined  to  be  noisy.  The  teacher 
suggested  that  they  be  reverent.  Two  songs  opened  the  session,  "Jesus  Calls 
Us"  and  "I  Would  Be  True."  Then  silent  prayer,  a  prayer  by  the  teacher, 
and  the  Lord's  Prayer  all  together.  They  were  then  asked  to  read  the  story 
of  Joseph  through  silently.  Following  this  the  teacher  told  the  story  of 
"Moc's  Coals  of  Fire,"  asking,  when  finished,  that  the  pupils  tell  how  it  was 
like  the  Joseph  story.  Next  the  boys  and  girls  were  asked  to  tell  how  they 
had  returned  good  for  evil  or  evil  for  evil.  Some  of  the  boys  took  advantage 
to  boast  a  bit  of  evil ;  the  majority  appeared  to  be  sincere.  Two  of  the  boys 
were  sent  back  to  the  public  school  for  bad  behavior.  At  the  conclusion 
of  the  period  the  teacher  suggested  that  they  tell  the  next  week  how  they 
had  returned  good  for  evil. 

Throughout  these  and  other  classes  observed  the  teacher  provided  for 
pupils  participating  in  the  lesson  and  kept  up  the  interest.  One  noted,  how- 
ever, that  the  pupils  were  of  the  kind  who  were  well-trained  in  behavior  in 
home  and  public  school.    However,  she  did  not  permit  the  fact  that  this  was 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  57 

a  class  in  religious  education  to  become  an  excuse  for  lowering  their  accus- 
tomed standards,  as  was  the  case  with  many  classes  observed.  Frequently 
the  pupils  were  given  opportunities  to  make  choices.  The  honor  system  pre- 
vailed in  an  examination  given  one  class.  The  teacher's  ideals  of  teaching 
were  somewhat  restricted  by  what  was  expected  of  her  in  the  way  of  cover- 
ing ground  in  the  texts.  With  more  freedom  from  traditional  methods  she 
no  doubt  would  have  introduced  other  aspects  of  the  approach  to  character 
building. 

11.  Standing  in  the  Community.  The  rather  unfortunate  experience 
with  the  beginning  of  the  week-day  movement  in  this  community  has  led  to 
caution  and,  it  might  seem,  some  hesitation  in  regard  to  advancement.  Most 
of  the  churches  have  cooperated  from  the  beginning.  One  denomination 
which  maintains  its  own  schools  in  other  communities  has  joined  the  others 
in  the  common  course  of  study  used  here.  The  justification  is  that  there  is 
enough  in  common  to  furnish  material  for  a  united  school.  One  pastor, 
when  approached  regarding  the  re-establishment  of  schools  in  that  portion 
of  the  community  now  without  them,  said  that  the  teaching  must  be  modern 
to  succeed.  One  official  thought  the  quality  of  the  work  not  much  above 
that  of  the  Sunday  school.  There  is  no  one,  however,  in  spite  of  such  views, 
who  is  not  in  favor  of  these  schools.  They  want  a  high-class  piece  of  work. 
This  attitude  is  not  surprising  since  in  this  community  some  very  fine  things 
are  being  done  in  the  public-school  line.  The  backers  of  the  schools  think 
of  the  work  done  as  an  experiment  and,  admitting  their  mistakes,  are  moving 
ahead  cautiously.    The  outlook  under  these  conditions  is  favorable. 

SYSTEM  NO.  3 
GARY,  INDIANA 

1.  Schools.  The  nine  schools  included  in  this  system  are  organized 
with  reference  to  the  location  of  the  public-school  buildings  in  the  commu- 
nity. The  system  was  organized  in  the  Fall  of  1917.  The  community  is  a 
fair-sized  industrial  city  with  many  nationalities  represented  in  :ts  popula- 
tion.* 

2.  Government.  A  community  board  composed  of  the  Sunday-school 
superintendent  and  two  lay  members  of  each  cooperating  church.  This 
board  gives  the  direction  of  the  schools  into  the  hands  of  a  Superintendent 
of  Religious  Education. 

3.  Financial  Support.  The  expenses  of  the  schools  were  about  $15,000 
last  year,  or  $5.00  per  pupil.  The  money  was  raised  by  local  churches,  by 
subscriptions,  and  by  some  outside  denominational  help.  Most  of  the  money 
goes  for  teachers'  salaries.  Texts  and  office  expense  are  also  large  items  of 
expenditure.  The  present  year  is  a  difficult  one  financially,  due  to  the  fact 
that  many  of  those  paying  small  subscriptions  are  out  of  work. 

4.  Relations  to  Public  Schools.  The  pupils  are  excused  from  their 
free  play  period  (high-school  students  from  auditorium)  to  attend  these 
classes.  The  parents  sign  cards  to  obtain  the  excuse.  The  playground 
teachers  check  up  as  to  attendance  to  prevent  truancy.  It  was  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  the  city  superintendent  of  schools  that  the  churches  began  week- 
day work  in  religious  education.  He  has  been  cordial  to  the  movement.  The 
public-school  teachers  utilize  the  material  gained  in  the  school  of  religion 
as  the  basis  of  theme  work  in  the  public  school.     Since  the  public-school 

*Individual  churches  began   work  late   in   1913. 


58  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

program  is  long  (including  free  play  and  auditorium  periods)  the  child's  day 
is  well  taken  care  of.  Since  the  time  for  religious  instruction  is  taken  from 
play  time  there  is  something  of  a  feeling  that  the  pupil's  schedule  of  school 
activity  is  crowded  and  that  religious  instruction  thus  given  encroaches  upon 
time  that  belongs  to  the  child.  The  public  school  superintendent  holds  that  it 
is  the  function  of  the  public  school  to  fill  the  child's  time  with  wisely  directed 
activity  and,  since  these  are  mostly  children  for  whom  little  activity  of  a  di- 
rected nature  is  furnished,  it  devolves  upon  the  school  to  furnish  it.  No 
credit  is  given  for  the  work  done  in  the  week-day  school  of  religion. 

5.  Officers  and  Teachers.  This  system  employs  six  full  time  teachers 
one  on  part  time,  a  secretary  and  a  superintendent  of  religious  education.  The 
salary  basis  is  $1,000  a  year  for  the  beginning  teacher  and  there  is  a  raise  of 
ten  dollars  per  month  for  each  succeeding  year.  The  highest-paid  teacher  is 
teaching  her  fifth  year  and  receives  $1,360  a  year.  All  the  teachers  have  had 
college  or  normal-school  training  or  the  equivalent.  All  have  had  teaching 
experience  in  the  public  schools. 

6.  Class-rooms  and  Equipment.  Of  the  nine  buildings  used  five  are 
churches,  one  a  settlement  house,  one  a  school  building,  one  a  store  and  one  a 
building  erected  specially  for  the  classes  in  religious  education.  The  rooms 
for  the  most  part  have  the  surroundings  and  equipment  of  the  good  Sunday 
school.  The  special  building  has  the  equipment  of  the  public  school.  The 
lighting  is  unusually  good  in  all  the  buildings,  no  artificial  light  being  re- 
quired. While  these  class-rooms  seem  quite  well  suited  tO'  the  purposes  of 
instruction,  they  lack  the  surroundings  so  helpful  to  securing  worshipful 
attitudes. 

7.  Enrollm\ent  and  Attendance.  The  systems  provide  for  instruction 
for  grades  1-8  and  a  high-school  class.  Two  grades  meet  together  to  form  a 
class.  Most  of  the  classes  meet  twice  a  week  for  fifty  minutes,  giving  each 
pupil  approximately  an  hour  and  three-quarters  of  religious  instruction  a 
week.  The  enrollment  this  year  has  been  3,220,  with  a  few  more  girls  than 
boys.  About  fifteen  hundred  of  these  children  attend  some  Sunday  school. 
The  percentage  of  attendance  is  82.  Two  conditions,  financial  depression — 
causing  poor  families  to  withdraw  children  because  they  will  not  send  chil- 
dren when  they  cannot  contribute — and  the  organization  of  other  church 
schools — to  care  for  children  formerly  attending  this  one — have  lowered  the 
enrollment  from  a  fi.gure  of  3,700  a  year  ago.  The  pupils  represent  forty 
different  nationalities  and  twenty-five  different  religious  creeds. 

8.  Course  of  Study.  The  Gary  Leaflets  are  used  in  the  grades.  The 
high-school  classes  have  used  texts  by  Fosdick,  Hunting,  Lewis  and  Smyth. 

9.  Activity.  Worship,  handwork,  dramatics,  play,  giving  money  and 
service  projects  are  all  included  in  the  pupil's  activities,  in  addition  to  text- 
book study  and  recitation.  The  service  activities  are  determined  by  the  story 
in  the  text  in  some  cases  and  in  others  by  local  needs  or  mission  work. 

10.  Method  of  Teaching.  The  character  of  the  teaching  is  shown  by 
the  following  brief  description  of  three  classes  visited.  The  first  class  (4-A) 
was  taught  in, a  small  frame  building,  "the  shack,"  in  which  the  teacher  took 
care  of  the  fire.  The  class  period  began  with  a  song  from  memory,  "Faith 
of  Our  Fathers,"  followed  by  "Holy,  Holy,  Holy."  A  prayer  by  the  teacher, 
was  followed  by  the  Lord's  prayer,  in  which  all  joined,  with  a  fair  degree  of 
reverence.  A  study  of  Psalm  91  from  the  Bible  and  a  memory  test  of  the 
amount  learned  came  next.    The  Joseph  story  was  reviewed  by  questioning  on 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  59 


the  part  of  the  teacher.  Note-book  work,  consisting  of  the  writing  of  the 
story  thus  reviewed  and  a  continuation  of  the  story  by  the  teacher,  con- 
cluded the  period.  The  children  repeated  together  the  Mizpah  benediction 
and  were  dismissed.  The  children  seemed  interested  in  the  story.  The  map 
was  used  to  locate  the  places  mentioned.  In  the  case  of  the  note-book  work 
the  teacher  gave  personal  direction  to  the  pupils. 

A  second  class  of  first-grade  boys  and  girls  met  in  a  church  basement. 
The  class  opened  with  a  brief  period  of  worship.  The  children  repeated 
"Father,  We  Thank  Thee" ;  sang  "Holy,  Holy,  Holy" ;  "Jesus  Loves  Me" ; 
"Away  in  a  Manger,"  and  then  there  was  a  "spell  down"  in  recalling  memory 
verses.  This  review  was  followed  by  having  the  children  tell  briefly  stories 
they  had  had.  The  stories  were  followed  by  a  quiet  and  impressive  prayer 
after  which  hand-work  (making  sail-boat  of  yellow  paper)  concluded  the 
period.  The  teacher's  contacts  with  the  pupils  were  unusually  good.  Sym- 
pathy and  kindliness  were  noticeable.  The  children  chose  two  of  the 
hymns  used.  Twice  children  were  dealt  with  for  telling  during  the  spell- 
down. First  the  warning  was,  "It  isn't  fair  to  tell."  The  next  time,  "Did 
you  think  of  that  all  by  yourself  ?"  The  answer,  "No,"  caused  the  teacher  to 
say,  "This  little  girl  will  have  to  sit  down."  A  stuttering  girl  received  very 
careful  attention.  The  story-telling  was  impressive  and  before  the  class 
was  over  the  teacher  made  the  suggestion,  "Tell  mother  this  story  just  before 
you  go  to  bed."  In  the  hand-work  the  aim  was  to  "remember  the  story" 
as  the  work  was  done.  The  story  was  Jesus'  stilling  the  storm.  While  the 
handwork  was  going  on  some  trouble  arose  and  the  teacher  suggested, 
"Christian  boys  and  girls  are  always  kind  to  one  another."  The  teacher 
is  behind  on  the  course,  but  thinks  that  the  individual  problems  are  important 
enough  to  be  dealt  with  as  they  arise.  The  above  instances  reveal  some- 
what the  teacher's  evaluation  of  lesson  material  as  compared  with  problems 
faced  by  the  pupils.  The  former  was  rather  a  medium  through  which  the 
latter  were  treated. 

A  third  class  of  eighth-grade  children  met  in  the  specially  erected  build- 
ing. The  songs,  "Dare  to  Be  Brave,"  and  "From  Greenland's  Icy  Moun- 
tain" began  the  period.  A  prayer  by  the  teacher  and  the  Lord's  Prayer  fol- 
lowed. The  teacher  then  led  in  a  discussion  of  the  early  church  leaders  and 
their  work  by  asking  questions  and  drawing  out  facts.  Paul's  life  was  then 
introduced.  Comparison  of  King  Saul  and  Paul,  ending  with  a  reading  of  a 
text  to  sum  up  Paul's  life  (II  Timothy,  2:15)  concluded  the  lesson.  The 
teacher's  manner  was  very  pleasing.  Democratic  discussion  and  description 
of  places  made  the  subject  interesting  for  the  pupils.  Opportunity  for  dis- 
crimination was  afforded  by  the  comparison  of  King  Saul  and  Paul.  There 
was  no  reference  to  activity  aside  from  this  discussion  of  a  lesson-topic. 

IL  Standing  in  the  Community.  These  schools  have  the  support  of 
the  churches  which  they  represent  and  have  maintained  a  stable  organization 
since  their  establishment.  The  most  important  aspect  of  community  stand- 
ing is  the  attitude  toward  the  week-day  schools  on  the  part  of  the  super- 
intendent of  public  schools.  As  above  stated,  he  suggested  the  establishment 
of  religious  instruction  during  the  week-day  and  has  taken  a  friendly  and 
cooperative  attitude  toward  the  movement.  It  was  his  hope,  however,  when 
making  the  original  suggestion,  that  something  other  than  formal  instruction 
should  be  the  basis.  The  method  of  developing  character  in  the  public 
schools  under  his  direction  is  the  indirect  rather  than  the  direct.   The  entire 


60  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

activity  program  of  the  public  schools  is  aimed  at  the  development  of  a  cer- 
tain type  of  character,  namely,  that  which  should  be  possessed  by  the  good 
American  citizen.  The  effort  to  attain  this  end  is  not  limited  to  a  course  in 
English  and  another  in  the  ethics  of  democracy,  but  is  back  of  every  activity 
maintained  by  that  public  school  system  for  both  children  and  adults.  It  is 
this  directed  activity,  in  which  the  new  American  mingles  in  work  and  play 
and  study  with  Americans  of  longer  standing,  which  produces  the  type  of 
character  desired.  This  superintendent  had  and  still  has  in  mind  a  program 
of  activity  for  the  churches  in  and  through  which  they  may  develop  the 
character  of  those  under  their  care.  It  was  to  give  opportunity  for  this 
activity  that  the  release  of  the  children  from  public-school  oversight  was 
suggested.  For  example,  the  churches  might  organize  the  talented  young 
people  with  musical  ability  (the  public  school  maintains  three  bands  for 
them)  into  church  orchestras  with  the  motive  of  serving  their  fellow  wor- 
shippers. Organized  activity  was  to  be  the  key  to  character  building  with 
the  ideal  character  that  of  the  Christian.  From  this  angle  the  direct  instruc- 
tion method  is  in  considerable  contrast  to  that  in  practice  in  this  pubHc 
school  system  and  in  most  of  the  others  visited.  This  attitude  on  the  part 
of  this  particular  superintendent  is  reflected  in  the  opinions  of  most  of  those 
interviewed. 

COOPERATING  GROUP  NO.  7 

VAN  WERT,  OHIO 

1.  Schools.  Ten  cooperating  churches  maintain  four  schools.  The 
town  is  of  the  small  city  type,  although  situated  in  a  rural  community.  The 
work  has  been  in  operation  since  September,  1918. 

2.  Government.  The  work  originated  with  the  ministerial  association 
and  was  placed  under  the  control  of  a  committee  representing  the  churches 
called  the  Board  of  Religious  Education. 

3.  Financial  Support.  The  annual  cost  of  operation  is  a  little  over 
two  thousand  dollars,  most  of  which  goes  to  pay  the  teachers.  The  cost 
per  pupil  is  $2.50.  Each  church  assumes  a  share  of  the  support  in  propor- 
tion to  its  financial  strength. 

4.  Relations  to  Public  Schools.  No  school  credits  are  given,  but  time 
from  study  and  recitations  is  granted.  In  three  out  of  the  four  schools 
the  public-school  buildings  and  equipment  are  loaned  to  the  week-day  school 
of  religion.  The  spirit  of  cooperation  is  exceptionally  fine  on  the  part  of 
the  public-school  authorities.  Aside  from  legal  separation,  the  work  is 
carried  on  much  as  though  the  teacher  of  religion  were  one  of  the  public- 
school  corps. 

5.  Officers  and  Teachers.  One  full-time  teacher  is  employed  at  a  sal- 
ary of  $1,500  a  year  and  one  helper  at  sixteen  dollars  a  month  to  give  three 
hours  a  week.  Both  have  had  public-school  teaching  experience  and  the 
full-time  teacher  has  spent  several  years  in  preparation  at  higher  schools. 

6.  Class-rooms  and  Equipment.  The  public  school-rooms  have  the 
usual  equipment ;  the  church  used  in  one  center  has  tables  and  chairs.  The 
lighting  is  not  very  good  in  the  latter.  Reference  works  are  not  used.  The 
teacher  has  her  own  professional  librarv. 

7.  Enrollment  and  Attendance.  Each  class  meets  for  thirty  minutes 
twice  a  week.  Various  times  during  the  day  are  used  for  the  different 
classes.    The  percentage  of  attendance  has  been  93  the  past  Fall ;  the  pro- 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  61 

portion  in  some  Sunday  school  is  91  per  cent.  The  total  number  enrolled 
the  present  year  is  915,  with  a  few  more  girls  than  boys.  Grades  1-6  are 
taught;  each  pupil  receives  one  hour  of  religious  instruction  a  week. 

8.  Course  of  Study.  The  plan  provided  for  in  the  Gary  Leaflets  is 
closely  followed. 

9.  Activity.  Coloring  pictures  and  verses  or  writing  down  points  in 
note-books  comprises  most  of  the  expression.  There  is  provision  for  brief 
periods  of  worship  during  the  lesson  period.  Giving  is  left  to  the  Sunday 
schools  as  is  the  service  activity  also.     Occasionally  there  is  dramatization. 

10.  Method  of  Teaching.  The  surveyor  observed  five  classes.  A  sum- 
mary of  activity  in  one  of  these  is  typical  of  the  others.  The  class  marched 
over  in  orderly  fashion  from  the  public  school  to  the  church.  The  attend- 
ance total  was  taken  and  the  half-hour  began  with  a  review  of  texts  pre- 
viously learned.  A  review  also  of  a  lesson  on  the  Pharisee  and  Publican, 
which  the  class  (First  Grade)  had  dramatized  at  a  previous  session,  fol- 
lowed. The  95th  Psalm  was  repeated,  followed  by  a  song,  "Father,  We 
Thank  Thee,"  and  then.  "Praise  Him."  The  teacher  then  led  in  a  brief  mis- 
sionary discussion,  taught  a  missionary  song,  and  reviewed  an  earlier 
missionary  story,  drawing  the  children  out  by  questions.  The  text,  which 
developed  out  of  the  story,  "God  loveth  a  cheerful  giver,"  was  then  colored, 
along  with  a  picture  of  a  little  Chinese  girl.  The  ptipils  stood  while  doing 
the  coloring  (about  ten  minutes).  The  children  seemed  interested  in  the 
lesson.  A  contact  was  made  by  calling  on  a  girl  whose  relatives  were  mis- 
sionaries to  start  the  discussion.  The  pupil  participation  was  good,  in  spite 
of  the  presence  of  27  in  the  class.  The  memory  work  had  evidently  been 
drilled  upon  thoroughly.     The  worship  was  quite  reverential. 

The  teacher  makes  use  of  public-school  contacts  as  far  as  possible  and 
tries  to  correlate  the  experience  which  the  child  has  had  there  with  his 
religious  life.  The  aim  of  the  teaching  process  is  to  impress  the  story  and  to 
strengthen  the  impression  made  intellectually  by  the  handwork  above  de- 
scribed and  by  worship.  Suggestions  as  to  how  "we  may  be  Christians" 
were  frequently  made.  One  got  the  impression  that  this  teacher  covered 
much  ground  in  the  half -hour  alloted  to  each  class.  No  attempt  was  made 
to  correlate  the  lesson  with  those  of  the  Sunday  school,  except  in  incidental 
ways. 

11.  Standing  in  the  Community.  The  community  is  proud  of  its  week- 
day schools  and  heartily  endorses  them.  The  public-school  officials,  pastors 
and  business  men  cooperate.  The  success  of  the  work  is  ascribed  by  most 
of  those  interested  to  the  ability  of  the  teacher.  The  work  seems  well  organ- 
ized and  promises  to  be  permanent. 

SYSTEM  NO.  24 

TOLEDO,  OHIO 

1.  Schools.  This  system  consists  of  24  schools  now  in  their  sixth  year. 
Located  in  a  large  city.  Started  as  a  community  enterprise;  now  under 
control  of  city  church  federation. 

2.  Government.  Committee  representing  Inter-Church  Federation. 
Paid  part-time  superintendent  is  employed  to  administer  and  supervise. 

3.  Financial  Support.  The  cost  of  the  schools  is  $5,000.00,  which  is 
raised  by  subscriptions.     Most  of  this  amount  goes  to  pay  the  teachers. 


62  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

^ __^ ■ —  ^ 

4.  Relations  to  Public  Schools.  Children  excused  from  classes  and 
study  time  to  take  this  work.  Credit  granted  for  High-school  work  done. 
Supervision  by  pubHc-school  authorities  is  slight.  There  has  been  some 
difficulty  in  cooperation,  but  good  relations  are  now  established. 

5.  Officers  and  Teachers.  The  paid  superintendent  (part  time)  is 
a  trained  high-school  teacher,  head  of  a  department;  has  a  central  office 
for  administration  purposes  and  spends  some  time  in  visiting  the  schools. 
Fifty-one  teachers,  six  of  whom  are  pastors,  teach  the  classes.  The  rate 
of  pay  is  $1.25  per  hour.    Most  of  them  have  had  public-school  experience. 

6.  Class-rooms  and  Equipment.  Twenty-five  churches,  three  parish 
houses  and  one  hall  are  used.  Most  of  the  class-rooms  need  artificial  light. 
Only  a  few  have  tables ;  practically  all  have  maps.  A  few  of  the  churches 
have  excellent  equipment ;  in  others  it  is  not  so  good. 

7.  Enrolment  and  Attendance.  Two  thousand  five  hundred  and 
thirty-one  pupils,  22  of  whom  are  High-school  students,  are  enrolled. 
Grades  3-6  are  taught,  classes  meeting  in  the  afternoon  for  one  hour  a 
week.  Each  grade  meets  as  a  separate  class.  There  are  two  High-school 
classes.  A  little  less  than  half  of  the  pupils  are  in  some  Sunday  school. 
The  percentage  of  attendance  is  93.  The  children  come  from  homes  of 
various  social  classes. 

8.  Course  of  Study.  This  system  uses  a  course  which  has  been  pre- 
pared by  its  own  workers.  The  aim  is  to  teach  the  Bible  stories  and  bring 
out  the  truth  of  each  story  without  emphasizing  any  particular  interpreta- 
tion. Very  little  attention  is  paid  to  worship  as  a  part  of  the  curriculum  in 
most  of  the  schools. 

9.  Activity.  Some  handwork,  worship  in  a  few  schools,  some  dra- 
matics and  play  includes  the  large  part  of  the  activity.  No  service  projects 
or  giving  of  money  is  provided  for.  The  general  view  is  that  these  things 
are  to  be  left  for  the  Sunday  schools. 

10.  Method  of  Teaching.  The  surveyor  visited  two  classes  taught  by 
two  different  teachers.  The  program  in  the  first  consisted  of  a  Bible  drill 
on  Old  Testament  and  New  Testament  books,  the  repetition  of  two  psalms, 
and  the  Christmas  story  told  by  the  teacher.  There  was  no  opportunity  for 
discussion,  the  main  idea  being  to  get  the  story  across  to  the  children.  The 
second  class  program  consisted  of  a  prayer  by  the  teacher  and  a  story  fol- 
lowed by  a  brief  closing  prayer.  There  was  no  discussion  of  the  story  by 
the  pupils,  although  many  were  anxious  to  make  contributions  from  their 
experience.  The  teaching  process  is  viewed  by  most  of  the  workers  as 
being  centered  about  information  imparting.  Those  responsible  for  the 
course  hold  the  view  that  knowledge  of  the  Bible  stories  is  the  fundamental 
of  religious  education.  Hence  the  prominence  given  to  story  telling  and 
explanation.  The  teachers  observed  were  good  story  tellers  and  the  chil- 
dren appeared  to  be  interested.  There  was  little  provision,  however,  for  the 
story's  carrying  over  into  life  unless  some  of  them  happened  to  stumble 
upon  a  similar  situation  after  leaving  the  class.  Present  life  problems  were 
but  incidentally  mentioned. 

11.  Standing  in  the  Community.  The  schools  have  the  backing  of 
the  large  majority  of  the  churches.  Two  churches  hold  denominational 
schools  in  the  same  city.  The  plan  seems  to  have  become  fixed  in  the  minds 
of  the  people.  The  public-school  authorities,  officially.  Have  granted  time 
and  credit  in  the  High  Schools,  but  have  no  close  relation  to  the  schools. 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  63 

Unofficially  they  are  friendly.  In  a  few  cases  at  first  individual  teachers 
made  objections  but  later  on  came  to  exhibit  a  spirit  of  close  cooperation, 
A  fine  spirit  of  cooperation  between  the  workers  in  the  schools  representing 
various  churches  is  prevalent  and  the  city  takes  for  granted  the  value  of  the 
work  being  done  and  promises  to  continue  it.  There  seems  to  be  an  idea, 
however,  that  the  place  of  the  week-day  movement  is  that  of  a  third  organi- 
zation standing  between  the  church  and  the  public  school  and  separate  from 
both.  What  the  result  would  be  in  the  case  of  any  issue  arising  remains 
to  be  seen.    Thus  far  matters  have  gone  on  smoothly. 

SYSTEM  NO.  93 

PROTESTANT   TEACHERS    ASSOCIATION,    NEW    YORK 

1.  Schools.  In  this  system  there  are  thirteen  schools,  the  first  of 
which  began  in  January,  1917.  They  are  situated  in  various  sections  of  a 
large  city. 

2.  Government.  While  the  government  of  these  schools  rests  in  the 
hands  of  an  organization  of  public-school  teachers  there  is  cooperation  and 
assistance  on  the  part  of  the  churches  in  which  the  several  schools  are  held. 
The  specific  direction  of  the  work  is  given  over  to  an  educational  director 
who  devotes  full  time  to  the  work. 

3.  Financial  Support.  Membership  dues  in  the  organization  are  the 
means  of  revenue.  The  chief  workers  and  educational  director  are  paid, 
which  accounts  for  the  expenditure  of  the  greater  part  of  the  $4,000  annual 
budget.  The  churches  in  which  the  schools  are  held  provide  for  lighting, 
heating  and  the  like. 

4.  Relations  to  Public  Schools.  There  is  no  direct  relationship  with 
the  public  school,  the  classes  meeting  outside  of  school  hours.  Since  public- 
school  teachers  are  teachers  in  these  schools  also  there  is  an  indirect  connec- 
tion but  in  a  very  limited  sense  and  not  official. 

5.  Officers  and  Teachers.  The  educational  director  and  all  the  prin- 
cipals and  important  assistants  in  all  the  schools  are  trained  public-schools 
teachers.  The  salaries  paid  are  usually  three  dollars  for  a  weekly  ses- 
sion of  two  hours. 

6.  Class-rooms  and  Equipment.  The  Sunday  school  rooms  in 
churches,  some  good  and  some  bad  as  to  lighting,  seating,  and  educational 
facilities,  are  used  for  the  week-day  schools.  For,  the  most  part  they  are 
not  as  well  equipped  as  other  schools  of  the  system  type.  The  equipment 
is  that  of  the  average  Sunday  school  rather  than  of  the  public  school. 

7.  Enrollment  and  Attendance.  The  classes  meet  once  a  week  after 
school  for  a  session  of  an  hour  and  a  half  or  two  hours.  The  grouping  is 
by  departments,  Primary,  Junior  and  Intermediate.  The  total  enrolment 
in  seven  reporting  schools  of  the  system  for  the  present  year  is  263,  which 
is  considerably  less  than  a  year  ago.  Most  of  them  are  attendants  at  the 
Sunday  school  of  the  church  in  whose  building  the  classes  meet. 

8.  Courses  of  Study.  These  schools  use  Colson's  First  Primary  Book 
in  Religion  for  the  Primary  children  and  Chamberlin's  Introduction  to  the 
Bible  for  the  Juniors  and  Intermediates.  Other  items,  however,  have  been 
added  to  the  common  program  of  activity  which  the  schools  provide,  thus 
widening  the  curriculum  considerably. 

9.  Activity.  The  activity  pro.vided  is  varied  including  worship  for  a 
half-hour,   a   lesson   half-hour   or    more,    followed   by   handwork   for   the 


64  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

younger  children  and  in  some  cases  athletics  for  the  older  ones.  Dramatiza- 
tion, giving  money  and  service  projects  are  also  included.  Each  school 
selects  concrete  cases  of  need  and  centers  its  giving  and  service  about  them. 
Much  of  the  lesson  and  the  thought  of  the  worship  period  takes  into  account 
the  service  idea. 

10.  Method  of  Teaching.  A  number  of  classes  in  these  schools  were 
visited  by  the  surveyor.  Since  the  work  is  viewed  as  including  much  aside 
from  class  work  a  typical  after-school  session  is  sketched.  About  thirty 
children,  half  of  them  tardy,  were  present  during  this  session.  The  period 
began  with  worship.  "Holy,  Holy,  Holy,"  and  "We  Three  Kings  of  Orient 
Are,"  were  sung.  The  latter,  a  new  song,  was  explained  by  the  leader, 
repeated  by  the  children,  and  then  all  sang.  Next  followed  sentence  prayers 
in  which  six  children  took  part,  the  leader  closing  with  a  simple  and  natural 
prayer  in  terms  of  the  children's  experience.  Flag  drills  with  the  American 
and  Christian  flags,  each  followed  by  a  song  appropriately  chosen,  were  the 
next  part  of  the  program.  An  offering  for  the  purpose  of  buying  milk  for 
babies  concluded  the  worship  portion  of  the  session.  The  teacher  then  told 
the  story  of  Moses'  Leading  the  Children  of  Israel.  The  emphasis  was 
placed  upon  the  plagues  and  miracles  of  Moses  in  the  wilderness.  The 
pupils  were  encouraged  by  questions  to  contribute  their  experience  to  the 
lesson.  The  Passover  was  discussed  in  the  same  way.  A  third  portion  of 
the  session  was  given  to  memorizing  the  Christmas  story  by  having  it  read 
over  several  times.  The  final  part  of  the  meeting  was  the  division  into 
smaller  groups  for  handwork,  athletics,  etc. 

The  teacher  in  this  particular  case,  as  in  several  others  observed  in 
these  schools,  sought  for  pupil  participation,  emphasized  the  story  method, 
and  included  service  projects  as  part  of  the  teaching  process.  The  limited 
class-room  space  and  inadequate  equipment  made  for  confusion  in  several 
schools.  Since  no  examinations  are  given  there  is  little  attention  paid  to 
preparation  by  the  pupils.  In  fact,  no  preparation  is  expected ;  the  children 
are  to  get  what  they  care  to  or  are  stimulated  to  get  by  present  interest. 

11.  Standing  in  the  Community.  The  community  at  large  pays  little 
attention  to  these  schools.  The  churches  in  which  they  are  located  realize 
their  value  and  are  glad  of  their  assistance  as  agencies  to  take  care  of  the 
boys  and  girls.  They  are  viewed  rather  as  one  of  the  many  phases  of  a 
busy  city  church  life  and  are  not  considered  as  important  as  in  other  com- 
munities. Just  what  they  shall  be  in  the  future  depends,  it  seems,  upon  the 
churches.  Unless  they  are  taken  more  seriously  and  incorporated  into  a 
unified  church  program  they  can  never  get  much  further  than  they  are  at 
present. 

SCHOOLS  NOS.  97-102 

BATAVIA,   ILLINOIS 

1.  Schools.  This  report  includes  six  schools  out  of  thirteen  which 
are  operated  in  a  small  city  surrounded  by  rich  farming  territory.  Each 
church  operates  its  own  school  but  there  is  the  loose  cooperation  for  gen- 
eral purposes  such  as  characterizes  the  type  II  school.  The  schools  were 
begun  in  September,  1919. 

2.  Government.  Each  church  governs  its  own  school.  The  pastors 
of  the  city  with  the  public-school  officials  form,  an  advisory  body. 

3.  Financial  Support.     Of  the  six  churches  sending  in  reports  four 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  65 


report  the  cost  of  their  schools  as  $50.00,  $100.00,  $102.00,  and  $140.00. 
The  cost  per  pupil  ranges  from  $1.00  to  $3.00.  The  money  is  raised  by  each 
local  church  as  an  item  of  the  church  budget.  Most  of  the  money  is  spent 
lor  assistant  teachers  or  for  supplies.  The  pastors  usually  teach  and  this 
reduces  the  expense. 

4.  Relations  to  Public  Schools.  The  pupils  are  excused  from  classes 
one  hour  each  Thursday.  An  account  is  kept  of  attendance  to  prevent 
truancy.  The  time  used  is  taken  from  study  time.  The  pupils  remaining 
in  the  public  school  are  given  other  work.  The  number  is  very  few.  The 
public-school  officials  stand  ready  to  care  for  matters  of  discipline  if  mis- 
conduct is  reported.    Their  interest  in  the  schools  is  most  hearty. 

5.  Officers  and  Teachers.  The  pastors  are  the  principals  and  do  part 
of  the  teaching.  Volunteer  and  paid  helpers  add  to  the  teaching  force.  Of 
the  six  pastor-supervisors  five  have  had  seminary  training,  three  college 
training  and  one  normal-school  training.  The  schools  reporting  (6)  use  a 
total  of  19  teachers,  3  of  whom  are  paid  for  part  time.  Four  have  had  col- 
lege training  (three  are  pastors),  five  normal  school  training  and  five  have 
had  high  school  training  only.  Six  have  taught  in  a  grade  or  high  school, 
one  in  college.  The  teaching  hours  per  week  vary  from  4-9  in  the  several 
churches  according  to  the  number  of  classes  formed  and  teachers  used. 

6.  Class-rooms  and  Equipm\ent.  The  equipment  is  that  of  the  average 
church. 

7.  Enrollment  and  Attendance.  The  schools  teach  eight  grades  each 
(one  a  kindergarten  in  addition).  Two  grades  meet  together  to  form  a 
class.  The  periods  are  an  hour  and  a  quarter  in  length.  The  total  enroll- 
ment in  the  six  reporting  schools  is  471,  about  the  same  as  a  year  ago.  Al- 
most all  of  the  children  in  three  of  the  schools  reporting  on  the  fact  are  in 
some  Sunday  school.  Only  one  school  reports  on  the  percentage  of  attend- 
ance, giving  92. 

8.  Course  of  Study.  The  courses  vary  greatly,  several  of  the  schools 
using  mixed  or  eclectic  courses.  The  courses  are  selected  with  preference 
for  material  suited  to  the  particular  denomination. 

9.  Activity.  One  school  has  no  activity  aside  from  catechetical  in- 
struction. Others  have  handwork  and  note-book  work.  Most  of  them 
report  worship.  Two  provide  for  giving  money.  Only  one  undertakes 
service  projects. 

10.  Method  of  Teaching.  In  five  of  these  schools  classes  were  visited. 
Two  were  doing  catechetical  work.  One  other  was  following  the  course 
in  the  Gary  Leaflets.  The  emphasis  was  placed  upon  story-telling,  note-book 
work  and  coloring,  and  memorizing.  A  fourth  school  was  being  taught  by 
the  pastor  using  the  Scribner  texts.  The  method  was  that  of  lecture-discus- 
sion, followed  by  the  pupils'  filling  in  note-books.  A  fifth  school  had  one 
class  at  work  on  the  project  of  making  a  harmony  of  the  gospels  in  note- 
book form.  In  the  last  two  schools  the  methods  used  suggested  an  attempt 
to  develop  the  socialized  recitation  and  secure  project  motivation.  The 
viewpoint  of  both  pastors  when  interviewed  was  in  accordance  with  this  aim. 

11.  Standing  in  the  Community.  Practically  the  entire  church  ele- 
ment of  the  community  is  quite  in  favor  of  the  plan.  There  are  signs  of 
difficulty,  however,  which  may  mean  changes  or  lack  of  interest  in  the 
future.  The  pastor  largely  responsible  for  the  initiation  of  the  plan  has 
left.    Another  pastor  doing  good  work  in  his  own  school  has  resigned.     A 


66  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

third  is  discouraged  with  the  work  being  done  in  his  own  school.  From 
the  standpoint  of  the  pubHc-school  authorities  the  work  is  not  approaching 
the  standard  of  that  done  in  the  pubHc  school.  While  an  earnest  supporter 
of  the  movement  the  superintendent  feels  that  advances  ought  to  be  made 
in  methods  of  teaching  and  modern  educational  theory  should  be  utilized. 

SCHOOL  NO.  131 

PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH,   TONAWANDA,    NEW    YORK 

1.  School.  Began  in  September,  1921.  Is  situated  in  a  town  of  ten 
thousand  having  an  industrial  population  and  is  the  only  week-day  school 
of  religion. 

2.  Government.  The  governing  body  of  the  local  church  conducts 
the  school. 

3.  Financial  Support.  The  cost  of  running  the  school  is  about  two 
thousand  dollars  a  year.  Sixteen  hundred  dollars  of  this  amount  pays  for 
the  teacher,  and  the  money  is  raised  as  a  part  of  the  church  budget. 

4.  Relations  to  Public  Schools.  At  the  request  of  the  parents  of  the 
children  they  are  excused  to  attend  the  school  of  religion.  They  are  excused 
individually  and  miss  work  in  reading,  history,  physical  culture,  and  study 
periods  (that  is,  one  hour  a  week  for  each  pupil).  No  record  of  attendance 
or  conduct  is  kept  by  the  public-school  authorities. 

5.  Officers  and  Teachers.  The  teacher  who  gives  her  entire  time  to 
this  school  is  a  college  graduate  and  holds  a  master's  degree  in  religious 
education  from  a  school  of  high  standing.  She  expects  to  make  this  iield 
her  life  work.  She  teaches  one  class  each  day  of  the  week.  She  is  paid 
$160  a  month  for  ten  months  and  has  had  four  year's  experience  teaching 
in  the  public  schools. 

6.  Class-rooms  and  Equipment.  The  school  is  held  in  a  room  in  the 
church  about  twenty  by  forty  feet  in  size.  There  is  need  of  artificial  liglit 
on  cloudy  days.  Chairs,  tables,  blackboards,  maps,  piano  and  book-cases 
comprise  the  equipment.  There  is  no  library,  but  the  teacher  and  th.e  pastor 
loan  their  books  very  freely ;  in  fact  it  is  ^  definite  plan  on  their  part  to  do  so. 

7.  Enrollment  and  Attendance.  The  classes  meet  at  three  o'clock  for 
one  hour.  All  the  pupils  are  members  of  some  Sunday  school.  Grades  two 
and  three  meet  as  one  class.  Grades  four  to  seven  meet  as  separate  classes. 
The  enrollment  began  with  one  hundred  and  at  the  end  of  seven  weeks  had 
reached  a  hundred  and  ten.  The  percentage  of  attendance  is  about  ninety. 
The  girls  slightly  out-number  the  boys.  Each  pupil  thus  receives  one  hour 
of  instruction  per  week. 

8.  Course  of  Study.  The  text  book  used  is  the  Bible.  The  teacher 
has  outlined  her  own  courses  as  follows :  Grades  2  and  3,  Slories  from  the 
Life  of  Jesus;  Grade  4,  Early  Heroes;  Grade  5,  Later  Heroes;  Grade  6. 
Life  of  Jesus;  Grade  7,  Life  of  Jesus.  The  studying,  aside  from  that  done 
in  the  Bible,  is  largely  from  reference  works  such  as  a  Bible  dictionarv, 
various  well-known  texts  on  the  life  of  Jesu.s,  Kent's  Historical  Bible  and 
the  like.  The  teacher  herself  uses  additional  sources  such  as  the  Abingdon, 
University  of  Chicago  and  Scribner  texts,  religious  education.  The  Church 
School  and  Teachers'  College  Record. 

9.  Activity.  The  curriculum  is  viewed  as  more  than  text-book  ma- 
terial and  includes  worship,  some  handwork,  dramatics,  play  and  a  variety 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  67 

of  service  projects.  Among  the  latter  the  following  have  been  undertaken 
the  past  semester :  acting  as  messengers  for  the  Red  Cross,  janitor  service 
in  arranging  the  rooms,  carrying  books  and  magazines  to  hospitals,  promo- 
tion of  a  "Go-to-Church  Sunday,"  making  clothes  for  baby  and  toys  for  a 
hospital,  preparing  Christmas  baskets  for  families  in  the  neighborhood,  giv- 
ing money  at  Christmas  for  various  needs,  giving  entertainments  for  other 
grades  of  the  school  and  conducting  a  service  of  worship  at  a  penal  institu- 
tion (this  latter  was  objected  to  by  some  of  the  parents).  In  all  this  there 
was  a  very  definite  attempt  at  correlation.  These  enterprises  are  the  basis 
of  discussion  at  the  lesson  hour  along  with  the  Bible  stories.  The  worship 
theme  and  attitude  centers  around  the  activity  in  which  the  pupils  are  then 
engaging.  An  attempt  is  being  made  to  bring  in  some  correlation  with  the 
work  of  the  Sunday  school,  but  this  is  so  far  done  largely  through  worship, 
since  the  week-day  teacher  conducts  the  worship  on  Sunday.  Calling  in  the 
homes,  conducting  a  teacher  training  class,  and  a  parents'  discussion  group 
further  this  unifying  of  the  educational  aim. 

10.  Method  of  Teaching.  The  nature  of  the  teaching  process  is  in 
part  apparent  from  the  above.  It  is  further  revealed  by  a  brief  description 
of  what  went  on  in  one  of  the  classes. 

The  class  visited  was  the  smallest  in  enrollment  and  attendance  of  any 
held  during  the  week.  Due  to  the  fact  that  practice  for  a  Christmas  pageant 
was  scheduled  to  follow  the  class  the  period  was  cut  to  one-half  hour.  The 
class  opened  with  a  discussion  as  to  whether  food  or  clothing  should  be 
given  to  the  family  which  they  proposed  to  help.  The  issue  was  finally 
settled  by  deciding  to  give  food  and  the  various  articles  were  then  appor- 
tioned among  the  pupils.  When  this  discussion  was  over  the  teacher  spoke 
briefly  of  the  fact  that,  since  it  was  the  afternoon  for  rehearsal,  the  coming 
of  the  other  children  to  take  part  might  disturb  them  in  their  lesson  discus- 
sion. In  fact  several  children  had  already  arrived  and  had  opened  the  door 
in  search  of  the  place  of  rehearsal.  One  little  youngster  was  even  waiting 
in  the  class-room.  She  called  their  attention  to  the  fact  that  this  situation 
was  likely  to  prove  a  distraction  for  them  in  getting  the  best  work  done. 
Then  she  called  for  suggestions  as  to  how  they  proposed  to  meet  this  situa- 
tion which  was  already  becoming  apparent.  One  girl  answered :  "I  will 
control  my  tongue."  A  boy  suggested  the  ideal :  "I  will  control  my 
thoughts."  These  were  written  on  the  board  together  with  the  Bible  refer- 
ence Phil,  4:8,  to  which  it  was  suggested  they  turn.  A  considerable  discus- 
sion of  the  meaning  of  this  passage  followed. 

Now  the  teacher  took  up  the  study  of  the  life  of  Jesus  at  the  point  at 
which  it  had  evidently  been  left  the  preceding  hour.  It  was  the  story  of 
Jesus  healing  the  paralytic.  As  the  discussion  proceeded  it  was  linked  up 
as  far  as  possible  with  Jesus'  attitude  with  reference  to  self-control.  What 
seemed  more  important,  however,  than  this  discussion  was  the  parallel  line 
of  action  which  was  going  on.  Time  after  time  as  they  were  in  the  midst 
of  some  point  of  the  discussion  there  would  come  a  knock  at  the  door.  An- 
other arrival  was  seeking  the  place  of  rehearsal.  At  first  these  interruptions 
caused  a  break  in  the  interest  and  attention  of  the  pupils.  The  teacher  re- 
called their  resolutions  which  had  been  written  on  the  board.  At  successive 
knocks  she  pointed  to  the  board.  Then  later  she  only  smiled  as  the  class 
members  would  start  to  let  their  attention  be  drawn  away  for  an  instant 
and  then  check  themselves  and  quickly  resume.     It  was  evident  that  the 


68  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

pupils  were  actually  be^nning  the  formation  of  a  new  habit,  that  of  self- 
control  with  reference  to  a  disturbance  from  without  when  they  wanted  to 
concentrate.  The  present  situation  had  created  a  problem  which  they,  with 
the  aid  of  the  teacher,  had  set  themselves  to  solve.  The  value  of  this  habit 
is  plain. 

As  the  bell  rang-  a  brief  summary  of  what  had  been  accomplished  was 
made  by  the  teacher.  She  reminded  them  of  what  they  were  to  bring  to 
show  their  friendship  for  the  unfortunate  family  and  that  they  should  con- 
tinue to  live  up  to  the  ideals  which  they  had  set  for  themselves  during  the 
hour.  A  prayer  embodying  this  ideal  followed  and  the  class  was  dismissed. 
The  boys  began  in  an  orderly  fashion  to  prepare  the  rocmi  for  a  supper  to 
be  served  that  evening. 

In  later  conversation  with  the  teacher  I  discovered  that  she  had  faced 
the  situation  in  advance  and  had  made  her  plans  accordingly.  The  dis- 
turbance which  was  inevitable  in  view  of  the  character  of  the  building  and 
the  season  became  the  starting  point  for  the  teaching  of  the  day.  She  had 
viewed  her  task  as  that  of  helping  the  children  face  in  a  Christian  way  the 
everyday  problems  of  life  and  solve  them  with  Christian  standards  in  mind. 
This  element  had  loomed  larger  in  her  mind  during  that  brief  half  hour  than 
the  attempt  to  cover  ground  in  the  general  course  provided. 

11.  Standing  in  the  Community.  Although  this  school  is  fostered  by 
a  single  denomination  it  is  highly  respected  by  the  community.  The  fact 
that  one-third  of  the  pupils  are  from  other  denominations  together  with  the 
willingness  on  the  part  of  the  public  school  board  to  excuse  children  shows 
considerable  backing  by  those  outside  that  particular  church.  More  impor- 
tant than  this,  however,  is  the  fact  that  the  church  aims  "to  make  it  a  com- 
munity affair  at  the  beginning  of  the  third  year."  Such  an  aim  and  such 
methods  promise  permanence.  Further,  the  church  stands  ready  to  begin 
the  erection  of  an  up-to-date  educational  building  in  the  near  future. 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL 

Hendrix  College,  Conway,  Arkansas, 

March  2,  1922. 
Dear  Sirs: 

Something  over  three  months  ago  you  entrusted  me  with  the  task  of 
making  a  survey  of  the  movement  for  week-day  religious  education.  In 
accordance  with  your  plans  I  have  visited  a  number  of  representative  schools 
and  observed  the  work  being  done  in  them.  I  have  also  gathered,  by  means 
of  prepared  schedules,  statistical  information  regarding  as  many  schools 
as  were  disposed  to  cooperate. 

I  wish  to  submit  to  you  the  following  report,  including  statistical  tables 
and  an  appendix  containing  descriptions  of  a  number  of  schools  personally 

visited. 

Respectfully, 

Erwin  L.  Shaver,  Surveyor. 
To  the  Committee  on  Survey  of  The  Religious  Education  Association. 


A  Statement  from  Field  Workers* 

I. 

AIM 

The  aim  of  the  Church  School  in  both  Sunday  and  week-day  sessions 
is  Christian  nurture  in  a  two-fold  direction,  (1)  to  care  for  those  already 
within  its  own  constituency,  and  (2)  to  reach  out  for  those  yet  untouched 
religiously.  tt 

PLACE 

The  Place  of  Religious  Education  in  the  Program  of  the  Church: 
We  believe  that  week-day  religious  instruction  should  be  an  integral  part 
of  the  educational  program  of  the  individual  Church;  and  that  this  instruc- 
tion should  be  so  correlated  with  Sunday  instruction  and  the-expressional 
activities  of  the  individual  church  as  to  create  a  Church  School  having 
Sunday,  Week-day  and  Expressional  sessions. 

III. 

TYPES    OF    CHURCH    WEEK-DAY    SCHOOLS 

TYPE  I.  The  denominational  or  individual  church  type  of  Week- 
day school  is  that  in  which  the  week-day  religious  instruction  is  a  part  of 
the  educational  program  of  an  individual  church  without  co-operation' with 
other  churches. 

TYPE  II.  The  denominational  community  school  is  one  in  which 
the  denomination  provides  the  curriculum  and  internal  administration, 
while  the  general  promotion  and  standardization  of  plans  and  other  accept- 
able elements  are  under  the  direction  of  an  advisory  board  of  religious  edu- 
cation officially  representative  of  the  co-operating  churches. 

TYPE  III.  The  Interdenominational  school  is  one  functioning  under 
an  interdenominational  board  of  religious  education  officially  representative 
of  the  co-operating  churches.  This  board  conducting  schools  selecting  as 
a  curriculum  a  non-denominational  course. 

Note:    In  any  one  community  all  three  types  of  schools  may  exist. 

IV. 

We  regard  the  Type  II  organization  as  being  the  one  possessing  the 
larger  number  of  desirable  features,  when  it  is  led  by  an  advisory  board  as, 
described  under  III.  y 

The  advisory  board  should  consist  of: 

(1)  Members  officially  representing  the  cooperating  churches. 

(2)  and  such  other  representation  as  may  be  desired. 

This  board  should  be  active  in  promoting  in  Week-day  session  stand- 
ards, teacher  training  and  such  other  functions  as  the  local  situation  may 
suggest. 

The  foregoing  have  been  approved  by  the  following: 

Rev.  W.  A.  Squires,  for  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication  and  Sab- 
bath School  Work. 

Rev.  Edward  W.  Sargent,  for  Protestant  Episcopal. 

Rev.  Thos.  S.  Young  (chairman),  for  American  Baptist  Publication 
Society. 

•Minutes   of   the    First    Conference    of   Field    Workers    in    Cliurcli    Week-day    Schools    for    The 
Denominations,  held  in   Board  Room,   American   Baptist   Publication   Society,    December   10,    1921. 

69 


The  Aims  of  Week-Day  Religious  Education* 

George  H.  Betts 

No  more  pressing  task  confronts  workers  in  religious  education  today 
than  a  definition  of  the  aims  of  week-day  instruction  in  rehgion.  If  this 
wide-spread  movement  is  to  be  wisely  guided,  and  if  we  are  to  be  able  to 
measure  and  evaluate  results  we  must  know  what  we  are  trying  to  do 
through  the  week-day  program. 

Any  statement  of  aims,  to  be  immediately  helpful,  must  not  be  so  gen- 
eral that,  while  indisputable  perhaps,  it  has  little  or  no  value  as  a  guide  to 
procedure ;  it  must  not  be  so  detailed  as  to  fit  only  into  particular  situations 
and  so  fail  of  wider  application. 

These  aims  are  not,  of  course,  when  found,  to  be  the  product  of  any  per- 
son's reasoning  or  of  any  group's  opinions.  They  are  not  a  thing-in-them- 
selves,  but  a  part  of  the  more  general  aim  of  religious  education  as  a  whole. 
They  arise  from  two  sources  which  are  in  the  end  but  two  aspects  of  one 
single  situation:  (1)  the  personal  needs  of  the  individual  in  his  spiritual 
growth  and  ethical  development;  (2)  the  religious  needs  of  society  as  ex- 
pressed in  its  present  institutions,  activities  and  relationships. 

From  this  point  of  view  the  more  fundamental  aims  of  week-day  re- 
ligious education  will  include  the  following: 

1.  To  meet  the  universal  need  and  increasing  demand  for  dynamic  re- 
ligion to  act  against  the  widespread  immorality  and  deterioration  of 
ethical  standards  characteristic  of  the  present. 

The  growing  movement  for  week-day  religious  instruction  is  a  confes- 
sion of  faith  in  religion  through  education  on  the  part  of  the  people  and  at 
the  same  time  an  accusation  of  inadequacy  on  the  part  of  existing  agen- 
cies for  the  religious  training  of  youth. 

The  earlier  public  schools  in  America  were  essentially  scliools  of  religion, 
the  curriculum  being  quite  as  dstinctively  religious  as  in  many  of  the  Sunday 
schools  of  today^  The  early  church  home  regularly  and  as  a  matter  of  course 
taught  the  child  in  religion.  Our  schools  have,  with  the  approval  of  prac- 
tically all  concerned,  been  secularized  and  are  not  allowed  to  give  religious 
instruction.  The  home  no  longer  assumes  as  large  a  responsibility  for  the 
spiritual  welfare  of  the  child  as  formerly.  The  task  thus  left  to  the  church 
has  proved  too  great  for  its  wisdom  or  its  zeal,  and  in  a  time  of  greatly  in- 
creasing general  intelligence  and  enlightenment  our  people  have  gradually 
been  drifting  into  religious  ignorance  and  indifference.  The  moral  breakdown 
hastened  but  not  caused  by  the  war,  and  certain  revelations  occasioned  by 
the  war  have  resulted  in  a  reaction.     We  are  again  turning  to  religion  and 


*The  two  longer  papers  on  "The  Aims  of  Week-Day  Religious  Educa- 
tion," as  well  as  the  shorter  statements  which  follow,  have  been  prepared 
at  the  request  of  The  Committee  on  Program  and  constitute  an  advance  dis- 
cussion of  the  first  topic  of  the  Conference,  on  March  31st  and  April  1st. 


70 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  71 

coming  to  demand  that  our  children  be  taught  the  Bible  and  the  basic  truths 
of  Christianity. 

2.  To  give  religion  its  rightful  place  in  the  zvhole  scheme  of  the  child's 
development  and  education  and  so  insure  its  presence  as  a  zvorking 
principle  in  later  life  and  character. 

A  marked  characteristic  of  recent  religious  thought  is  the  demand  that 
religion  shall  be  less  a  matter  of  observance  of  forms  and  more  a  matter  of 
conduct ;  less  the  intellectual  acceptance  of  a  theological  creed  and  more  the 
development  of  a  true  philosophy  of  living;  less  the  fulfillment  and  expres- 
sion of  religious  obligation  and  opportunity  by  the  observance  of  one  day 
each  week  and  more  the  everyday  practice  of  the  Nazarene's  program. 

This  freeing  of  religion  from  the  shackles  of  formalism  can  be  hastened 
by  carrying  religious  instruction  out  into  other  days  of  the  week  than  Sun- 
day, and  by  making  its  concepts  and  its  precepts  a  part  of  the  child's  daily 
thought,  learning  and  action.  What  is  studied,  learned  and  applied  in  con- 
nection with  the  common  run  of  each  day's  experience  and  problems  will 
become  so  much  a  part  of  the  inner  structure  of  the  life  that  it  is  quite  sure 
to  touch  the  springs  of  motive  and  action,  and  so  tend  to  cure  the  gulf  that 
so  often  exists  between  religious  profession  and  ethical  practise. 

Many  good  people  are,  nevertheless,  alarmed  at  the  proposal  contained 
in  the  preceding  paragraph.  They  are  scandalized  at  the  idea  of  dealing  with 
religious  affairs  on  other  days  than  Sunday  and  in  any  other  place  than  the 
church.  To  them  religion  is  too  "sacred"  a  thing  thus  to  make  it  a  part  of 
the  whole  program  of  the  child's  education.  They  fear  it  will  "cheapen 
religion"  to  teach  it  on  week  days.  A  part  of  the  problem  of  week-day  re- 
ligious education  will  be  to  convert  these  "Sunday  Christians"  to  the  method 
followed  by  the  Christ  in  his  teaching. 

3.  To  secure  the  time  and  frequency  necessary  for  lodging  the  religious 
information,  for  training  the  religious  attitudes,  and  for  establishing 
the  religious  habits  and  skills  required  to  vivify  and  spiritualize  the 
ethical  virtues  by  religious  motives. 

The  amount  of  time  to  be  given  any  subject  in  the  general  plan  of  the 
child's  education  should  be  governed  by  two  considerations :  ( 1 )  The  im- 
portance of  the  subject  to  the  individual  and  society ;  (2)  the  scope  or  amount 
of  material  to  be  covered.  For  the  present  discussion  we  may  assume  that 
religion  ranks  high  on  both  of  these  counts.  There  is  no  possibility  on  the 
basis  of  our  present  Sunday  school  practise  of  securing  an  adequate  amount 
of  time  to  give  the  child  the  religious  instruction  he  requires.  To  devote  at 
least  six  times  as  many  hours  to  arithmetic  as  to  religion  in  the  child's  educa- 
tion does  not  constitute  a  defensible  division. 

Furthermore,  the  very  infrequency  of  impression  of  instruction  that 
comes  but  once  a  week  in  large  measure  defeats  its  purpose.  One-hour-a- 
week  classes  are  not  encouraged  in  colleges,  even,  because  of  the  educational 
loss  through  the  fading  out  of  one  impression  before  the  next  is  made.  One 
of  the  chief  aims  of  religious  education  is  so  to  adjust  the  time  element  for 
religion  in  the  child's  education  that  his  spiritual  development  may  not  suffer 
in  comparison  with  other  phases  of  growth. 

4.  To  secure  for  the  teaching  of  religion  such  educational  standards  as 
will  command  the  respect  of  the  pupil  and  place  the  religious  aspect 
of  his  education  on  a  par  xvith  other  phases. 


72  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 

Measured  by  the  standards  applied  to  other  Hnes  of  education  we  are 
obliged  to  admit  that  with  all  the  good  the  Sunday  school  has  done  and  is 
doing,  neither  the  church  nor  the  children  take  it  seriously  from  the  educa- 
tional point  of  view.  Its  lesson  materials  are  hardly  ever  studied,  learned, 
recited  as  are  public  school  lessons.  Probably  not  one  Sunday-school  pupil 
out  of  a  hundred  could  pass  for  promotion  if  examined  as  in  general  educa- 
tion. Its  teachers  are  seldom  prepared  by  general  knowledge  or  by  immediate 
study  to  teach  what  the  lesson  offers.  Probably  not  one  teacher  out  of  fifty 
could  secure  a  "certificate"  to  teach  in  the  Sunday  school  if  tested  by  the 
standard  applied  to  public-school  teachers.  The  classes  meet  under  lim- 
itations as  to  rooms  and  equipment  which  would  not  be  tolerated  in  even 
the  poorest  public  schools. 

Now  if  the  church  is  to  make  religious  education  one  of  its  leading- 
enterprises,  if  it  is  to  make  this  the  chief  corner  stone  in  building  for  the 
future,  then  this  lack  of  standards  must  be  remedied.  It  is  no  more  possible 
to  teach  religion  than  it  is  science  with  uninformed  teachers,  with  idle,  list- 
less pupils,  and  with  no  educational  equipment. 

The  very  fact  that  week-day  church  schools  are  held  on  week  days  will 
make  it  possible  to  set  up  reasonable  educational  standards.  The  teachers 
are  paid,  hence  their  previous  preparation  and  their  professional  growth 
while  in  service  can  be  required.  Pupils  meet  their  classes  on  work  days, 
often  on  time  taken  from  their  public  school  lessons,  hence  they  can  be  asked 
to  read,  study,  recite.  Churches  are  asking  for  the  cooperation  of  public 
school  authorities  on  the  matter  of  time  and  program,  hence  they  must 
expect  to  meet  public-school  standards  on  matters  of  supplies  and  equipment. 

No  worse  mistake  would  be  made  in  the  week-day  program  than  that 
which  at  present  threatens  in  certain  quarters;  namely,  being  "easy"  in 
order  to  win  support  from  pupils  and  patrons,  hoping  later  to  raise  the 
standards.  The  lack  of  popular  respect  for  "Sunday-school  methods"  ought 
to  teach  us  that  we  need  from  the  first  to  make  sure  of  respect  for  our  educa- 
tional standards. 

5.  To  bring  under  the  influence  of  religious  instruction  many  who  are 
at  present  untouched  by  the  agencies  of  the  church. 

The  Sunday-school  child  needs  and  ought  to  have  the  advantage  of 
week-day  instruction  in  religion.  We  must  not  forget,  however,  that  approxi- 
mately three  out  of  four  children  and  youth  between  four  and  eighteen  years 
of  age  in  the  United  States  are  not  in  the  Sunday  school — not  in  the  church. 
To  these  the  week-day  church  school  should  especially  direct  its  appeal. 

How  successfully  this  can  be  done  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  approximately 
half  of  some  two  thousand  week-day  pupils  in  what  is  known  as  the  Calumet 
District  organization  have  had,  at  the  time  of  their  registration,  no  mem- 
bership in  Sunday  school  or  church.  In  individual  classes  the  percentage  of 
non-church  pupils  runs  as  high  as  ninety. 

Once  these  non-church  pupils  are  members  of  the  week-day  classes 
they  may  much  more  easily  be  won  to  the  church  and  the  Sunday  school — as 
many  of  them  are  being  won. 

6.  To  build  into  our  national  life  and  ideals  the  basic  biblical  and 
ethical  concepts  underlying  Christianity  and  commonly  accepted  by 
all  denominations  as  the  foundation  of  Christian  character  and  good 
citizenship. 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  73 

The  stress  here  is  upon  the  common  elements  of  a  rehgious  curriculum, 
the  least  common  multiple  of  the  various  denominations.  A  fundamental 
principle  in  all  curriculum  making  in  a  democracy  is  first  of  all  to  provide 
for  those  basic  elements  which  are  required  by  the  whole  mass  of  people 
regardless  of  station  or  occupation.  After  this  is  done,  then  the  needs  of 
various  special  groups  may  be  provided  for.  For  example,  all  our  people 
need  to  be  taught  the  mother-tongue,  the  laws  of  hygiene,  good  citizenship; 
hence  these  subjects  shall  be  in  every  school  curriculum.  Only  a  part  of  our 
people  need  to  learn  a  foreign  language  or  carpentry  or  bookbinding;  hence 
these  branches  must  not  crowd  out  or  usurp  the  place  of  those  subjects 
required  by  every  citizen. 

This  principle  becomes  both  practical  and  important  when  applied  to 
week-day  church  schools.  For  the  week-day  program  of  religious  educa- 
tion, if  it  is  to  succeed  in  any  large  way,  must  quite  certainly  develop  as  a 
joint  interdenominational  enterprise.  The  very  fact  that  the  week-day 
program  must  seek  to  coordinate  with  the  public  schools  on  the  matter  of 
time  adjustments  makes  it  impossible  to  work  by  individual  churches  or 
denominations.  If  this  is  true  there  would  seem  to  be  no  place  in  the  week- 
day movement  for  the  development  of  denominational  curricula.  The  week- 
day curriculum  must  provide  those  basic  religious  elements  required  by  the 
whole  mass  as  a  preparation  for  Christian  citizenship. 

7.  To  unite  the  churches  in  a  great  common  task,  thereby  helping  to 
break  down  the  barriers  of  extreme  denominationalism  and  disunity 
which  now  interfere  zvith  religious  zvork  and  progress. 

Church  unity  and  aggressive  team  work  will  never  be  brought  about  by 
attempts  at  harmonizing  discordant  theological  viewpoints  or  diverse  systems 
of  church  polity  through  discussion  and  compromise.  The  history  of  the  war 
period  shows  the  way.  Set  before  the  Christian  church  a  great  task  worthy 
of  its  best  energies  and  enthusiasms,  a  positive  program  of  service  and 
achievement,  and  let  it  forget  its  enmities  and  bickerings  in  the  effort  to 
attain  a  definite,  tangible  and  objective  goal  in  which  all  alike  are  equally 
interested.  On  the  human  side  the  Protestant  church  needs  nothing  today 
more  than  it  needs  a  great  common  task. 

8.  To  help  the  church  to  see  that  if  it  is  to  fulfill  its  destiny  it  must 
change  its  emphasis  and  become  a  teaching  instead  of  a  preaching 
church. 

In  spite  of  recent  promising  progress  but  a  small  part  of  the  Protestant 
church  has  yet  come  to  see  that  only  in  religious  education  of  childhood  and 
youth  is  to  be  found  the  weapon  that  will  save  it  from  humiliating  defeat — 
the  defeat  of  spirtual  deadness  and  the  inability  to  assume  a  position  of  moral 
and  religious  leadership  in  a  time  when  men  are  crying  for  light  and  guid- 
ance. 

With  proper  vision,  fearless  leadership  and  wise  counsel  week-day 
schools  can  prove  the  claim  of  religious  education  as  no  other  agency  work- 
ing under  the  church  can  do.  One  almost  dares  to  say  that  as  goes  the  week- 
day movement  for  the  next  decade  so  will  go  the  future  of  religious  educa- 
tion.   And  this  zmll  determine  the  future  of  the  church  itself. 

9.  To  join  hands  zmth  all  other  educational  agencies  of  the  church, 
seeking  to  correlate  aims  and  activities  at  every  point  possible  to 
the  end  that,  though  the  agencies  may  be  many,  the  program  of 


74  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

religious  instruction  offered  the  child  by  the  church  shall  in  the  end 
be  one. 
The  question  of  the  relation  of  week-day  rehgious  instruction  to  the 
Sunday  school  is  a  very  pressing  and  vital  one.  Theoretically,  since  the 
Sunday  school  is  organized  and  on  the  ground,  the  week-day  program 
should  simply  be  an  expansion  and  enrichment  of  the  Sunday  program. 
Practically  this  is  impossible,  for  such  reasons  as  the  following: 

( 1 )  The  week-day  program  is  interdenominational,  the  Sunday  program 
denominational. 

(2)  The  Sunday  school  has  no  standardized  curriculum  commonly  used 
by  the  denominations  with  which  to  correlate  the  week-day  curri- 
culum. 

(3)  The  same  teachers  can  not  be  employed  in  Sunday-  and  week-day 
schools. 

(4)  Not  infrequently  more  than  half  of  the  week-day  pupils  are  not 
attendants  at  Sunday  school,  and  hence  have  no  basis  for  correla- 
tion. 

Is  all  thought  of  correlation  then  hopeless?  Not  so.  But  the  basis  of 
correlation  is  to  be  found  in  the  child  instead  of  in  the  material.  Let  those 
who  make  the  curriculum  for  the  two  types  of  schools  come  equally  and  in 
common  to  know  the  spiritual  nature  and  needs  of  the  child  at  the  different 
stages  of  his  development.  Then  let  them  select  material  and  method  to  fit 
these  needs.  If  this  is  done  it  will  not  matter  so  much  whether  just  the  same 
materials  are  used  in  both  Sunday  and  week-day  schools.  In  fact  variety 
may  be  no  handicap.  Meet  the  needs  of  the  learner  in  each  case  and  the 
correlation  will  take  place  within  the  soul  of  the  child. 


The  Aim  of  Week-Day  Religious  Instruction 

Edward  Sargent  * 

Week-day  religious  education  or — a  better  term  in  our  opinion — the 
week-day  Church  school,  aims  to  give  a  larger  opportunity  for  the  Church  to 
aid  in  the  education  of  the  child. 

It  came  into  existence  at  the  challenge  of  those  who  were  living  closest 
to  childhood.  They  felt  that  the  children  needed  something  which  the  school 
could  not  give,  and  which  neither  the  home  nor  the  Church  were  adequately 
supplying.  This  week-day  Church  school  seemed  to  be  a  solution  of  the 
difficulty. 

Any  plan  to  carry  over  religious  education  into  the  week-day  time  at 
once  captures  the  imagination  and  explains  the  impressive  fact  that  in 
approximately  forty  cities  in  eighteen  States  some  form  of  week-day  work  on 
school  time  is  attempted.  The  wide  divergence  in  type  and  method  in  these 
actual  field  experiments  suggests  that  it  is  high  time  to  review  our  funda- 
mentals and  objectives.    Whither  is  the  movement  leading  us? 

To  answer  our  question  seems  to  require  a  definite  statement  of  the 

*Mr.   Edward  Sargent  is  Secretary  of  the  Department  of  Religious  Education  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church. 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  75 

relation  of  the  week-day  Church  school  to  (a)  education,  (b)  the  Church, 
and  (c)  the  large  group  of  the  unevangelized. 

I.  The  zveck-day  Church  school  is  related  to  education  because  edu- 
cation means  the  growth  and  unfolding  of  personality.  This  is  achieved  by 
interested  activity  and  vital  experiences  on  the  part  of  the  child.  It  is  a 
consistent  process.  The  personality,  composed  of  many  parts,  is  still  a  unit 
and  so  is  the  education  of  personality. 

It  is  of  far-reaching  interest  to  recall  that  not  the  Protestant  churches 
but  the  schoolmen  have  discovered  that  more  was  needed  to  really  educate 
than  the  public  school's  curriculum.  Therefore,  they  challenged  the  Church 
to  face  the  situation.  Children  are  not  receiving  moral  training  and  religious 
experience.  These  must  therefore  be  put  into  their  lives  and  naturally  ex- 
pressed by  them  through  induced  and  interested  activity  under  the  direction 
of  some  other  agency  than  the  public  school  if  the  fruit  of  its  labor,  the 
American  boy  and  girl,  is  to  be  sound  to  the  core. 

II.  When  we  come  to  the  second  relationship,  that  with  the  Church, 
we  at  once  sense  a  number  of  perplexing  problems.  There  seems  to  be  a 
grave  suspicion  of  the  Church  school  and  what  it  has  to  offer.  Such  sus~ 
picions  become  vocal  in  the  following  expressions : 

A.  The  Church  school  of  the  past  has  been  a  failure  because: 

(1)  it  has  not  taken  the  training  of  childhood  seriously; 

(2)  it  has  fallen  behind  the  public  school  in  content  of  courses  and 
efficiency  in  teaching  staff ; 

B.  To  break  away  from  the  Church  school  will  assure  an  easier  ap- 
proach to  the  unchurched. 

Church  leaders  have  agreed  to  the  truth  of  the  first  two  criticisms.  They 
refuse  to  admit,  however,  that  they  may  not  be  remedied.  There  is  an  alert- 
ness and  desire  to  grapple  with  these  problems  that  is  distinctly  encouraging. 
To  leaders  who  see  the  needs  of  Church  schools,  our  aim  of  week-day 
religious  instruction  is  very  simple,  clear  and  definite.  The  Church  school 
must  be  considered  a  unit.  It  raeets  frequently  but  it  is  always  the  same 
school.  If  worship  and  instruction  are  stressed  on  Sunday,  the  instruction 
and  devotion  of  the  week-day  sessions  take  up  the  work  begun  and  carry 
it  on  to  logical  expression.  Week-day  sessions  give  additional  time  to 
intensify  worship,  to  Hnk  up  conduct  with  profession  and  to  see  a  vision  of 
larger  service. 

This  unified  Church  school  dem.ands  the  same  standards  of  discipline 
and  methods  of  teaching  in  every  session,  Sunday  or  week-day.  It  must  even 
compare  favorably  with  the  public  school.  The  child  passes  from  the  public 
school,  with  its  trained  teachers,  graded  curriculum,  splendid  organization 
and  atmosphere  of  business  reality,  to  the  Church  school  where  a  similar 
pedagogical  technique  holds. 

Such  an  aim  calls  for  teachers  for  all  sessions,  Sunday  and  week-days, 
trained  in  modern  methods  of  pedagogy  and  in  touch  with  child  psychology. 
This  is  as  vital  now  in  the  Church  school  as  in  the  public  school.  These 
professional  adjuncts  are  essential  but  are  far  from  being  all  of  the  teachers' 
equipment.  The  Church  school  demands  teachers  with  the  ability  to  radiate 
and  illuminate  the  whole  subject  by  word  and  good  example.  It  must  have 
teachers  with  the  power  to  create  such  a  sincere  and  reverent  atmosphere  in 
the  class  and  such  an  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  child  as  will  bring  him  to 


76  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 

appreciate  and  respect  his  work.  Mr.  Balfour  says,  "There  can  be  no 
morality  without  reverence."  It  calls  for  standards  of  equipment  such  as 
proper  lighting  and  ventilation,  proper  seating  facilities  and  class  materials. 
It  calls  for  a  course  of  study  with  vital  and  living  content  and  also  ample 
opportunity  for  expression.  Instructional  material  merely  is  not  enough. 
It  demands  a  careful  organization  of  the  Church  school,  a  definite  outline 
of  work  for  the  different  sessions.  It  asks  specific  time  from  the  public 
school  but  does  not  seek  school  credit.  This  would  involve  a  supervision  on 
the  part  of  the  school  authorities  that  would  hinder  the  Church  school  in 
expressing  itself  in  devotion  and  service.  It  goes  one  step  further  and 
recognizes  that  with  all  this,  the  work  must  eventually  fail  if  it  is  not  able 
to  draw  the  home  into  active  and  sympathetic  cooperation.  A  nation's 
stability  and  integrity  rests  upon  and  will  rise  little  higher  than  the  ideals  of 
the  home. 

These  demands  of  the  Church  school  have  not  been  put  beyond  the 
bounds  of  possible  achievement.  There  are  many  places  already  approxi- 
mating this  ideal.  What  has  been  done  may  be  done.  The  aims  and  prin- 
ciples of  this  type  of  combined  Sunday  and  week-day  session  are  sound  and 
follow  the  nurture  process  and  where  put  into  operation  have  been  wonder- 
fully successful.  That  they  are  difficult  is  granted.  This  is  their  challenge. 
The  Church  school  of  today  in  all  sessions  must  be  a  real  school  and  so  appeal 
to  the  child ;  nothing  else  will  satisfy.  The  possible  solution  of  one  problem 
is  within  reach  and  the  truth  of  the  criticism  of  neglect,  loose  standards  in 
content  and  teaching  of  the  past  Church  school  are  both  accepted  as  true  and 
are  being  remedied. 

It  is  not  a  criticism  to  say  the  school  here  described  is  a  denominational 
school.  The  Churches  need  better  members  even  before  they  need  greater 
numbers.  To  keep  and  strengthen  what  we  have  is  our  first  educational 
duty  and,  to  this  end,  more  time  is  needed.  The  leaks  from  our  Sunday 
schools,  unless  stopped,  mean  a  lingering  death  for  the  Churches;  but  the 
Churches  are  not  going  to  die  a  lingering  or  any  other  kind  of  death.  That 
we  are  dealing  not  with  a  dying  but  with  a  living  organism  capable  of 
adjustments  can  be  seen  in  the  reorganization  of  the  Church  school.  Here 
we  find  already  deep  study  of  child  life  that  reflects  progress.  It  has  resulted 
in  proper  and  consistent  grading;  courses  of  study  based  upon  childhood's 
age-to-age  needs  and  possibility  of  religious  experience;  organization  of 
training  classes,  and  summer  and  winter  normal  schools  for  teachers. 

The  question  as  to  whether  the  Church  school  must  go  because  of  its 
past  failure  is  the  first  question  of  vital  importance.  We  hope  we  have 
answered  it.    Its  place  cannot  be  filled. 

The  existence  of  other  types  than  this  denominational  one  immediately 
described  indicates  that  there  is,  if  not  an  expressed  belief,  a  tacit  assump- 
tion that  this  week-day  religious  education  owes  allegiance  to  something 
other  than  the  Church,  a  sort  of  "new  conception  of  religious  education." 

For  example,  we  find  in  the  field,  schools  cooperating  with  the  public 
school,  wherein  a  mild  effort  is  made  to  instill  a  vague  and  abstract  moral 
and  ethical  teaching  based  on  Bible  story  and  history,  interesting,  but  almost 
purely  informational.  In  no  sense  are  these  "schools  of  religious  life."  This 
type  ignores  or  purposely  misses  its  opportunity.  Religion  is  personal,  not 
abstract  and,  because  personal,  it  is  the  life  of  experience,  not  of  hearsay, 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  77 


that  gives  religion  its  dynamic  and  compelling  force.  Personal  religion 
demands  the  life  of  vital  and  active  fellowship.  For  this  reason,  week-day 
schools  can  never  be  "schools  of  religious  life"  apart  from  the  Churches.  We 
have  suggested  this  previously.     It  must  be  reiterated. 

Here  again  in  the  field  are  to  be  seen  various  phases  of  community  week- 
day schools,  having  no  contact  with  Sunday  and  Church  schools,  striving 
after  a  religious  community  consciousness  which  is  impossible.  This  is  to 
rear  a  new  thing  for  the  community  to  support,  of  questionable  usefulness 
and  permanency  and  leading  us  nowhere  in  particular.  We  have  already 
too  many  uncorrelated  agencies  clamoring  for  our  children's  time.  These 
community  week-day  schools  either  ignore  and  miss  the  opportunity  or  con- 
fuse the  denominational  duty  with  a  missionary  problem.  These  two  prob- 
lems are  not  at  all  the  same. 

Were  Christian  people  even  able  to  agree  upon  universally  recognized 
standards  of  righteousness  (I  am  not  now  touching  matters  of  faith  and 
order,  but  diverse  and  conflicting  views  of  marriage,  of  the  home,  of  indus- 
trial justice,  and  our  relation  to  our  fellow  men  and  even  the  simplest  things 
of  God),  were  we  at  one  on  these  we  might  go  to  the  unchurched  with  a 
unity  that  would  be  tremendously  effective.  This  is  not  the  case,  and  it 
complicates  the  problem  exceedingly.  It  is  not  a  theory  but  a  fact  that  we 
express  our  fellowship  in  separate  groups.  The  problem  of  denomination- 
alism  is  certainly  not  lessening  as  rapidly  as  we  could  wish.  The  desire  of 
men's  heart  for  unity  is  not  lessening  but  the  difficulties  are  coming  more 
clearly  in  view.  There  is  a  far  greater  breadth  of  charity  for  differences, 
but  there  is  also  a  clearer  vision  of  what  unity  involves.  The  great  denomina- 
tions have  kept  religion  alive  in  the  past.  There  is  little  apparent  likelihood 
of  their  soon  being  relieved  of  this  task. 

Are  we  ready  to  abandon  denominationalism  in  the  interests  of  an 
abstraction?  Our  zeal  to  reach  the  unchurched  should  not  blind  our  eyes 
to  this  first  problem. 

We  seem  to  forget  that  we  are  dealing  largely  with  evangelistic  churches 
in  this  week-day  work.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  a  plan.  It  in- 
volves 250  hours  of  extra-secular  instruction  in  religion.  So  has  the  Jew. 
He  demands  in  some  places  as  high  as  350  hours.  The  entire  union  of 
Protestantism  will  not  eliminate  the  denominational  problem.  It  will  lessen 
the  number  of  camps.  This  is  the  consummation  devoutly  to  be  wished.  As 
long  as  Roman  Catholic  and  Jew  are  equally  with  us,  the  problem  still 
remains.  Meanwhile,  the  unchurched  are  a  fact  and  a  problem.  Our  present 
effort  to  solve  this  problem  is  still  found  in  our  first  suggested  aim,  a  larger 
opportunity  for  the  Church  to  aid  in  the  education  of  the  child. 

III.  Relation  to  the  unevangelised.  It  is  impossible  to  deny  that  there 
exists  a  great  unchurched  group  of  children  untouched  by  the  type  of  denomi- 
national school  we  have  immediately  described.  That  they  are  at  our  very 
door  does  not  make  of  them  less  a  missionary  problem  than  if  they  were  in 
Alaska  or  Africa.  In  reality  they  are  miles  and  miles  away  from  the 
Churches  in  thought  and  attitude,  in  every  respect,  in  fact,  except  actual 
distance.  They  are  a  sad  commentary  upon  our  unhappy  differences.  Who 
is  responsible  for  them? 

Types  of  week-day  schools  in  the  field  seem  to  suggest  that  there  can 
be  a  State  or  community  responsibility  or  a  non-denominational  organization. 


78  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

in  reality  a  super  denomination  above  and  beyond  denominations.  Neither  is 
feasible. 

This  missionary  responsibility  does  not  belong  properly  to  the  State  or 
the  community  as  such,  but  to  the  Churches.  State  religions  have  never 
proven  highly  successful,  nor  will  a  religion  based  on  a  community  con- 
sciousness and  responsibility  fare  any  better.  Our  State,  on  account  of  our 
clashing  creeds,  is  pledged  to  neutrality.  It  can  legislate  against  abuses. 
It  fails  hopelessly  to  legislate  ideals  or  morals  into  the  lives  of  men.  Morals 
are  the  result  of  experience  and  will  and  are  personal,  not  abstract.  Here 
the  State  is  powerless.  A  super-denomination,  non-denominational  and  non- 
sectarian  in  program  and  teaching  content,  may  teach  abstract  moral  truths. 
It  cannot  seem  to  reinforce  these  moral  ideals  with  the  sanction  of  religion. 
Religion  must  function  in  a  fellowship.  Meanwhile,  the  unchurched  are  a 
fact  and  a  tremendous  problem.     There  can  be  but  one  solution. 

The  agencies  that  have  a  personal  religion  must  go  personally  to  the 
unchurched  and  win  them.  There  is  no  other  way.  We  have  been  satisfied 
with  keeping  our  own,  so  long  that  we  have  ignored  the  other  equally  weighty 
problem.  This  type  of  missionary  denominational  Church  school  should 
touch  the  life  of  the  unchurched  homes  and  children  wherever  possible,  it 
must  go  to  them  where  they  are  and  find  the  pomt  of  contact. 

However,  the  ultimate  destination  of  suck  a  missionary  Church-school 
work,  if  lost  sight  of,  will  delay  the  solution  just  so  much  longer.  If  it  results 
in  a  week-day  school  having  no  desired  connection  with  organized  religion, 
if  it  deludes  itself  with  what  at  first  flush  are  evidences  of  unusual  success, 
namely,  rapid  increase  of  numbers ;  if  it  remains  satisfied  with  these  easily 
attained  results  the  movement  will  eventually  fail  because  after  a  brief 
nondescript  course  of  instruction  the  children  are  graduated  into  the  un- 
churched group.  Nothing  less,  let  me  again  repeat,  nothing  less  than  vital 
fellowship  and  active  membership  with  organized  religion  should  be  the 
final  goal  towards  which  the  missionary  effort  points.  Week-day  schools  of 
religious  education  can  not  approximate  a  closer  unity  than  have  the 
Churches  already  attained.  Short  cuts  to  unity  by  way  of  the  children  are 
a  fallacious  blunder.  Therefore  the  Churches,  while  giving  attention  to  the 
first  problem,  their  own  children,  may  not  stand  aside  and  ignore  this  mis- 
sionary problem  but  work  at  its  solution  as  they  worked  at  any  other  mis- 
sionary problem.  This  is  the  greatest  opportunity  that  has  faced  the 
Churches  of  America  in  a  century.  Indeed  it  seems  a  divine  challenge  to 
our  right  to  retain  our  candlestick  (Rev.  11:5).  The  public  schools  have 
evinced  a  decided  interest  and  a  desire  to  help  and  cooperate.  If  the  school- 
men are  disappointed  another  generation  will  have  to  pass  and  this  weary 
road  be  again  traversed  ere  they  are  once  more  sympathetic. 


Brief  Statements  of  Aims 

AIMS,  AS  SEEN    BY   A   SCHOOL  DIRECTOR 

In  this  day  of  over-organization,  a  new  community  enterprise  should 
be  able  to  give  a  good  reason  for  its  existence. 

For  some  time  previous  to  1918,  ministers,  church  school  workers, 
public  school  teachers  and  parents  of  Van  Wert  had  sensed  the  need  of  some- 
thing to  supplement  what  the  churches  were  able  to  do  on  Sunday  in  the 
matter  of  religious  education.  They  deplored  the  inefficiency  of  existing 
agencies,  they  saw  the  need  of  a  better  knowledge  of  the  Bible,  and  that 
more  time  should  be  given  to  the  religious  training  of  the  children  of  the 
community  under  trained  leadership.  Perhaps  this  is  as  far  as  the  commu- 
nity had  thought  out  the  proposition  when  they  ventured  upon  it.  But  they 
were  willing  to  act  together  as  a  community,  and  ten  churches  cooperated  to 
launch  the  experiment. 

After  preliminary  matters  of  organization  had  been  taken  care  of, 
the  aim  of  the  work  from  the  standpoint  of  the  director  (who  was  also  the 
teacher)  was  to  make  the  pupils  love  the  Bible  stories.  In  a  sense  this 
popularized  the  movement.  When  pupils  were  too  ill  to  go  to  church  school 
on  Sunday,  and  to  public  school  on  weeks  days,  but  who  mourned  the  neces- 
sity of  absence  from  week-day  Bible  classes,  the  first  important  thing  was 
accomplished. 

As  the  work  has  developed  during  four  years,  it,  has  been  the  aim  of 
the  director  to  have  such  a  share  in  the  shaping  of  growing  personalities,  that 
they  might  have  a  balanced  education,  and  that  there  should  be  a  natural 
spiritual  development  to  the  end  that  pupils  might  build  up  a  well-rounded 
Christian  character.  We  have  aimed  to  cooperate  with  other  agencies  of 
the  community  in  this  regard. 

We  are  trying  to  supplement  the  work  the  churches  are  attempting  to 
do  on  Sunday,  and  to  keep  the  children  sensitive  to  the  best  influences  of  the 
home,  the  churches,  and  other  uplifting  organizations  of  the  community. 
There  is  much  to  be  desired  in  the  correlation  of  Sunday  and  week-day  work, 
and  we  make  no  pretentions  in  the  matter  of  developing  little  "saints"  in 
Van  Wert.  However,  we  are  trying  to  make  a  contribution  to  our  com- 
munity in  this  new  phase  of  religious  education,  and  we  are  open  to  light  as 
it  may  come  to  us  from  experiments  elsewhere. 

Mat  K.  Cowles, 
Director,  Van  Wert,  Ohio. 


AIMS,   AS   SEEN   BY  A    COMMUNITY  DIRECTOR 

The  following  categories  overlap  but  will  serve  to  indicate,  briefly,  the 
aims  of  week-day  religious  education : 

I.  Life — individual:  To  provide  training  supplemental  to  that  of  the 
public,  and  the  church  school  which  will  develop  attitudes  and  ideals  of  per- 
sonal integrity,  justice,  fair  dealing,  mutual  respect,  honesty,  truthfulness, 
honor,  service,  kindness  and  those  other  virtues  which  make  for  the  largest 
moral  self-realizations.     These  ideals  are  to  be  permeated  with  loyalty  to 

79 


80  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 


God.     In  short,  to  provide  for  a  considerable  percentage  of  the  youth  of 
America  a  rehgious  background  for  right  behavior. 

II.  The  Social  Order:  The  aim  of  week-day  rehgious  instruction  is  to 
supplement  the  "ministry  of  education"  for  the  Church;  to  establish  social 
control  through  ideals  established  in  childhood  and  nurtured  carefully 
throughout  youth ;  to  maintain  such  close  relationship  to  the  churches,  and 
they  to  the  movement,  that  the  children  will  want  to  relate  themselves  to 
their  respective  churches  which  will  continue  their  religious  nurture  through- 
out life.  In  short,  to  develop  a  generation  who  live  under  the  constant 
guidance  and  propulsion  of  religious  ideals,  and  thus  achieve  the  highest 
social  usefulness. 

III.  Institutional:  1.  To  develop  an  American  system  of  education 
which  recognizes  the  separation  of  church  and  state  and  which  provides  for 
religious  instruction  as  an  integral  part  of  education. 

2.  To  put  religious  education  on  a  par  with  public  education  pedagogic- 
ally,  by  employing  trained  teachers  whose  lives  are  motivated  by  religious 
ideals. 

3.  To  give  to  the  youth  of  America  a  background  of  religious  facts 
and  to  develop  those  attitudes  toward  God  and  right  living  which  will 
make  the  adults  worthy  to  constitute  the  church  of  the  new  day. 

4.  Week-day  instruction  on  a  community  basis  will  interest  a  consider- 
able percentage  of  the  whole  group  and  will  teach  those  general  facts  of 
religion  and  develop  those  attitudes  toward  God  which  may  be  used  by  prac- 
tically any  church  in  the  community.  The  various  churches  will  give  what 
denominational  instruction  they  choose  in  the  church  school  on  Sunday. 

The  aim  of  week-day  religious  education  is  fundamentally  consistent 
with  those  values  contained  in  the  statements,  "What  is  put  into  the  first  of 
life  is  put  into  the  whole  of  life,"  and  "What  is  wanted  in  the  life  of  a  nation 
must  first  be  put  into  its  schools." 

N.  F.  Forsyth, 


The  Calumet  District  Schools. 


AIMS,   AS  SEEN   BY  A  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  SECRETARY 

The  aims  or  purposes  of  the  week-day  religious  school  are  not  clearly 
defined  nor  are  the  present  conditions  for  conducting  this  recent  addition 
to  religious  education  such  as  to  make  any  ideal  very  real.  In  the  back- 
ground there  are  many  fleeting  purposes  which  seem  to  change  as  new 
plans  are  evolved,  new  methods  tried.  For  instance:  in  one  city  there  is  a 
school  being  conducted  that  requires  a  tuition  fee  from  the  pupils.  It  is 
small,  but  it  is  a  new  angle  on  the  situation.  The  children  are  largely  from 
well-to-do  homes,  and  they  seem  to  enjoy  paying  for  their  religious  educa- 
tion. It  has  been  suggested  by  a  prominent  educator  that  the  registration 
fee  be  considerably  increased.  While  this  does  not  materially  change  the 
purpose  it  does  change  one's  attitude  toward  the  purpose.  Shall  we  make 
religious  education  during  the  week  free  or  shall  we  place  about  it  an  ele- 
ment of  exclusiveness  or  separateness.  If  so  the  child  of  the  poorer  section 
of  the  community  becomes  a  subject  of  charity.     A  child  who  pays  may 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  81 

gloat  over  another  pupil  who  cannot  pay;  children  who  need  the  teaching 
are  shut  out. 

There  is  one  fact  that  is  evident  to  any  person  who  has  had  experience 
in  these  schools ;  they  must  be  made  attractive  to  the  children.  In  the  pub- 
lic school  attendance  is  obligatory.  No  such  pressure  can  be  brought  to 
bear  on  the  children  in  the  week-day  religious  school,  nor  should  it  be. 
Therefore  the  aim  should  be  to  use  every  legitimate  means  to  attract  the 
children.  This  may  be  rather  a  low  aim  considering  the  deep  truths  in- 
volved and  their  meaning  to  life.  A  child  ought  to  want  to  know  God  and 
the  Christ  but,  unfortunately,  the  majority  of  children  have  as  little  desire 
to  study  the  word  of  God  as  they  have  to  study  arithmetic  or  grammar. 

One  purpose  is  quite  clear.  The  bulk  of  the  study  should  be  the  Bible. 
A  love  for  the  Bible  is  to  be  created.  Stories  from  the  Word  of  God,  Bible 
literature  and  Bible  biography  are  more  to  be  desired  than  legends  and 
fairy  stories  or  manual  work.  The  last  mentioned  is  too  often  the  first 
in  mind. 

Another  purpose  that  seems  clear  is  this :  education  in  facts  cannot 
take  the  place  of  development  in  spiritual  power,  or  a  belief  in  the  super- 
natural, even  to  a  child.  It  may  seem  that  the  latter  is  implied  when  the 
former  is  established.  There  should  be  a  definite  and  well  defined  purpose 
in  a  Protestant  community  school  to  teach  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  fulfilling 
of  God's  purpose  and  even  a  child  must  follow  the  Bible  plan  if  saving  force 
and  power  come  into  their  souls.  It  is  futile  to  teach  religion  and  not  teach 
that  God  sent  His  only  begotten  Son  into  the  world,  that  they  through  His 
death  might  have  life.  It  is  thought  often  that  no  such  attitude  should  be 
assumed  in  a  week-day  religious  school.  Religion  without  Christ  in  any 
Protestant  community  school  is  only  half  a  religion.  There  may  be  religion 
but  it  is  not  all  of  religion.  The  aim  is  too  low  without  Christ.  On  these 
purposes  hang  the  spiritual  development  of  the  child  and,  to  my  mind,  the 
best  type  of  a  week-day  religious  school. 

Walter  T.  Southerton, 
Field  Secretary,  Brooklyn  Sunday  School  Union. 


AIMS,  AS   SEEN   BY  A   COMMUNITY   BOARD 

I.  To  take  advantage  of  the  impressionable  years  of  childhood   for 
instruction  and  training  in  religion  and  morals. 

II.  To  supplement  the  curriculum  of  the  public  schools  by  providing 
instruction  in  religion  and  morals  for  all  the  children. 

III.  To  provide  the  means  necessary  for  efficiency  in  religious  and 
moral  training,  such  as : 

1.  God,  His  nature,  attitudes  toward  man,  expectations  of  man. 

2.  Adequate  time  and  frequent  sessions. 

3.  Teachers  especially  fitted  for  the  work  in  personal  character, 

4.  The  best  methods  in  teaching. 

5.  Suitable  rooms  and  equipment. 

IV.  To  import  true  ideas,  about — 

1.  God,  His  nature.  His  attitudes  toward  man,  His  expectations 
of  man. 

2.  Man,  his  nature,  his  goals  in  character,  his  relation  to  God 
and  to  his  fellows. 


82  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

3.  Life's  real  values. 

4.  Society,  especially  as  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth. 

V.  To  develop  in  the  child  a  keen  appreciation  of  the  above  truths 
and  a  proper  sense  of  obligation  toward  them. 

VI.  To  train  the  child  in  appropriate  daily  conduct  to  the  end  that  he 
may  be  an  intelligent  disciple  of  Christ  and  a  worthy  citizen  of  his  im- 
mediate community  and  of  the  world. 

VII.  To  make  every  possible  contribution  to  that  ultimate  goal  of  all 
religion  and  morals — a  Christlike  character  in  every  child. 

William  Grant  Seaman, 
The  Gary  Board  of  Religious  Education. 


AIMS,   AS  SEEN  BY  A  RECTOR 


The  aim  and  objective  of  the  effort  now  being  made  at  the  Week-day 
School  of  Religious  Instruction  in  St.  Mark's  Church,  Toledo,  may  be 
stated  as  follows : 

1.  We  wish  to  secure  for  Religious  Education  the  maximum  time  at 
present  possible ;  therefore  the  pupil  is  in  the  Sunday  session  for  one  hour 
and  fifteen  minutes  of  which  forty  minutes  is  devoted  to  instruction,  and  in 
the  Week-day  School  for  a  period  of  one  and  one-half  hours.  One  hour  is 
the  period  during  which  the  child  is  excused  from  the  public  schools  and 
the  other  half  hour  is  given  voluntarily. 

2.  The  instruction  we  wish  to  secure  for  the  child  is  a  religious  ex- 
perience during  his  school  life  which  shall  be  at  least  as  real  and  as  definite 
as  the  other  experiences  of  that  period. 

3.  His  life  at  home,  his  worship  in  Church,  his  instruction  in  the 
Christian  Religion  and  his  expression  of  all  this  in  Christian  service  and  in 
devotion  we  regard  as  one  whole.  They  must  be  closely  correlated  and 
must  be  permeated  by  one  dominant  ideal. 

4.  Therefore,  the  lesson  for  each  week  is  divided  between  the  Sun- 
day period  which  is  really  a  study  recitation  period  and  the  Week-day  period 
when  the  child  gives  back  to  the  teacher  the  lesson  learned  on  Sunday  and 
receives  a  thorough  memory  drill,  then  he  has  the  expression  work,  note 
books,  maps,  pictures,  etc.,  and  finally  carries  the  lesson  into  some  form 
of  Christian  service.  It  should  be  noted  that  as  far  as  possible  the  Chris- 
tion  service  is  linked  not  merely  with  their  lesson  for  the  day  but  with  a 
group  of  lessons  covering  a  period  of  weeks.  We  have  found  it  advisable 
to  make  careful  provision  for  this  Christian  service  activity.  Boys  and  girls 
are  very  anxious  to  put  into  practice  in  this  way  arts  and  crafts  which  they 
have  studied  or  learned  at  the  public  school,  such  as  manual  work,  poster 
work,  sewing  etc. 

5.  Our  experience  leads  us  to  say  that  any  Week-day  system  which 
provides  that  the  Sunday-school  lesson  shall  be  on  one,  and  the  Week-day 
lesson  on  another  basis  will  fail  to  secure  the  best  results.  If  for  instance, 
the  truths  held  vital  by  the  Church  or  denomination  are  emphasized  on 
Sunday  and  either  neglected  or  said  to  be  immaterial  on  a  week  day,  no 
favorable  result  in  the  mind  of  the  child  can  be  hoped  for. 

6.  Our  experience,  lasting  now  for  three  years,  is  indicative  of  the 
fact  that  the  system  as  it  is  in  force  with  us  has  led  to  a  gradually  increased 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  83 


respect  on  the  part  of  the  child  for  the  truths  of  the  Christian  Religion;  and 
while  it  is  never  desirable  or  reverent  to  talk  of  such  things  in  terms  of 
statistics  it  would  seem  to  be  the  case  that  many  of  the  boys  and  girls  are 
beginning  to  have  that  reality  of  Religious  experience  for  which  we  have 
been  working  and  praying. 

This  is  indicated  by  greater  reverence  at  Church,  more  frequent  com- 
munions and  a  greatly  improved  condition  in  the  senior  grades  over  senior 
grades  in  past  years  when  there  was  no  week-day  instruction.  It  is  also  to 
be  noted  that  teachers  who  were  themselves  either  prejudiced  or  antagon- 
istic to  the  Week-day  system  are  enthusiastic  in  their  statements  that  the 
boys  and  girls  who  come  to  their  classes  after  one  or  two  years  in  the 
Week-day  school  are  very  much  more  in  earnest  than  those  students  who 
do  not  attend  the  Week-day  school. 

7.  Another  result  is  a  very  much  more  vital  interest  in  unselfish  serv- 
ice for  others  and  a  greater  willingness  to  make  sacrifices. 

Rev.  R.  S.  Chalmers,  Toledo. 

AIMS,  AS  SEEN  BY  A  COLLEGE  PROFESSOR 

Public  school  education  has  a  dignity  and  worth-whileness  in  the  imagi- 
nation of  children  which  commands  their  unquestioning  respect  and  serious 
effort.  This  is  a  mental  attitude  which  the  various  forms  of  religious  in- 
struction have  failed  to  secure.  That  has  been  the  chief  reason  for  their 
relative  ineffectiveness. 

The  Week-day  Church  school  is  a  proposal  to  carry  over  the  mental 
set  from  general  education  to  religious  education.  That  mental  set  is  the 
result  of  public  authority,  public  sentiment,  required  attendance,  trained  and 
paid  teachers,  curricula  and  methods  approved  by  the  experts,  and  tradition- 
ally established  school  hours.  All  these  factors  are  retained  in  the  Week-day 
Church  school.  The  pupils  come  there  in  the  same  state  of  mind  in  which 
they  come  to  the  public  school,  with  an  additional  stimulus  of  new  subjects 
and  new  teachers. 

At  once  the  subject  of  religion  is  given  its  place  among  the  real  things 
of  life.  With  most  of  the  children  it  has  not  hitherto  stood  better  than  a 
half-recognized  aspirant  to  that  rank.  With  the  new  prestige  which  this 
school  gives  to  religion  in  the  minds  of  the  children,  and  many  of  the  parents 
as  well,  it  becomes  possible  as  never  before  to  teach  and  to  train  children  in 
religion. 

The  actual  aims,  methods,  and  materials  are  of  course  very  diverse, 
depending  on  the  responsible  leaders  in  the  local  schools.  A  few  points  or 
principles  may  be  suggested  as  desirable.  The  general  aim  is  a  development 
and  refinement  of  the  spiritual  life  and  moral  character  of  the  children. 

There  are  brief  and  simple  religious  exercises  in  which  the  members  of 
the  school  all  share  largely.  They  consist  in  common  worship,  individual 
devotion,  and  the  religious  and  social  activities  of  the  community.  By  actual 
participation  in  such  activities  along  with  others,  under  good  leadership  or 
supervision,  there  should  be  a  development  of  the  inner  spiritual  functions, 
and  of  the  outward  modes  of  expression  and  religious  action. 

By  a  successful  teaching  of  well-graded  subjects  and  human  incidents 
from  the  Bible  and  other  sources,  a  child  sees  human  life  in  numerous  phases  ; 
and  he  learns  to  judge  and  evaluate  it,  to  discriminate  and  appreciate  its 


84  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 

merits  and  its  faults.  If  the  subjects  can  be  kept  alive  in  his  memory,  they 
will  grow  into  the  ideals  of  life,  and  mold  the  motives,  and  determine  the 
choices. 

Children  who  are  steadily  and  happily  held  under  the  influence  of  Chris- 
tian teachers,  and  the  noble  personalities  of  Christian  history,  and  typical 
events  and  crises  of  the  higher  life,  and  who  are  made  sharers  in  the  activities 
and  enthusiasms  of  religion,  are  going  to  bear  the  stamp  of  that  training,  and 

show  the  fruits  of  that  nurture  as  long  as  they  live.  >. 

William  James  Mutch, 

Ripon  College. 


AIMS,   AS   SEEN    BY   A   UNIVERSITY  TEACHER 

The  aim  of  the  week-day  school  of  religion  may  be  conceived  as  that  of 
meeting  the  religious  and  moral  crisis  that  now  exists  in  the  life  of  our 
nation.  The  present  political,  industrial,  and  social  exigencies  have  revealed 
the  inadequacy  of  our  former  program  of  religious  training  and  the  neces- 
sity that  this  program  be  immediately  extended  and  intensified. 

This  ultimate  aim  is  not  tainted  with  a  sordid  nationalistic  spirit. 
Religious  training,  like  charity,  begins  at  home.  America  dares  not  neglect 
.  her  own  children  while  yielding  to  a  Christ-like  concern  for  the  children  in 
over-seas  countries.  Substantial  achievements  here  in  America  will  inevitably 
strengthen  the  work  in  other  countries.  The  one  who,  himself,  is  irreligious 
makes  a  poor  teacher  of  religion.  America  faces  the  necessity  of  purifying 
herself  for  their  sakes  as  well  as  for  her  own. 

The  plain  fact  is  that  thousands  of  our  more  intelligent  American  citizens 
are  seriously  considering  the  immediate  steps  necessary  in  the  Christianizing 
of  our  social  and  industrial  order.  Gradually  the  indisputable  fact  is  com- 
ing to  be  recognized  that  the  most  economical  and  permanently  successful 
method  of  achieving  this  objective  is  to  establish  a  nation-wide  system  of 
religio-ethical  training  that  will  be  intelligently  correlated  with  the  work  of 
the  public  schools.  What  shall  it  profit  a  nation  to  sharpen  the  wits  of 
succeeding  generations  of  citizens  in  a  secular  system  of  education  if  these 
citizens  are  not  trained  to  use  their  personal  powers  for  the  social  good? 
Religious  illiteracy  and  its  attendant  moral  anemia  must  be  removed  from  our 
national  life.  And  the  aim  of  week-day  religious  schools  is  to  bring  this 
about. 

Each  succeeding  generation  of  American  citizens  enjoys  more  spare 
time,  greater  wealth,  and  increased  personal  power.  This  means  that  a 
system  of  religious  education,  nationally  organized  and  promoted,  must 
spiritually  under-gird  our  national  life  with  ever-increasing  efficiency.  The 
Christianization  of  the  social  and  industrial  order  must  be  made  the  vocation 
or  chief  vocation  of  millions  of  Americans.  Apd  they  must  be  trained  for 
this  service. 

Freed  from  fanatical  sectarian  prejudices,  reverent  though  thoroughly 
scientific  in  its  approach  to  religious  truth,  quick  to  feel  the  religious  motive 
in  the  study  of  science,  literature,  history  and  art,  and  responsive  to  the 
claims  of  the  kingdom  of  God  project,  the  aim  of  the  week-day  school  of 
religion  is  to  become  a  most  vital  agency  in  the  redemption  of  America. 

Norman  E.  Richardson, 

Northwestern  University. 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 


AIMS,  AS  SEEN  BY  A  CITY  SUPERINTENDENT 

The  fundamental  objective  in  all  education  may  be  simply  stated  as  the 
knowledge  of,  and  appreciation  of  truth.  All  education,  whether  it  be  secu- 
lar or  religious,  and  I  do  not  see  any  sharp  dividing  line  between  them,  must 
set  up  some  such  objective. 

The  history  of  the  Christian  religion  records  many  controversies  over 
what  is  the  truth ;  but  there  is  a  great  body  of  fundamental  truths  found  in 
the  Bible  which  are  accepted  so  generally  by  the  great  body  of  Christians 
that  these  can  be  made  a  basis  for  a  curriculum  such  as  we  are  using  in  our 
community  Bible  schools  in  this  city.  Not  once  in  the  four  years,  during 
which  time  the  Director  of  these  schools  has  had  supervision,  has  any  objec- 
tion been  raised  to  the  plain  statement  of  the  historical  facts  of  the  parts  of 
the  Bible  covered.  Not  many  people  are  interested  in  theological  discussions 
in  this  day  as  they  have  been  in  the  ages  past,  which  gave  rise  to  the  division 
of  the  church  into  creeds.  People  are  more  interested  in  getting  the  prin- 
ciples of  right  living — a  practical  Christianity. 

So,  as  the  name  implies,  the  Toledo  Community  Week-Day  Bible  Schools 
are  simply  instructing  the  children  in  the  Bible.  We  have  children  from 
practically  all  denominations  and  a  large  per  cent,  from  those  who  have  no 
church  relationship.  Our  Community  Schools  have  prospered  everywhere 
and  have  grown  beyond  our  equipment  to  care  for,  while  the  thirty  or  more 
church  schools  have  given  over  the  work  to  the  Community  Schools.  How- 
ever, two  church  schools  have  had  continued  success  for  the  past  two  years, 
although  hampered  by  the  long  distances  between  various  school  buildings 
and  churches. 

The  persons  who  have  been  given  the  responsibility  of  the  direction  of 
these  schools,  have  conscious  aims  subordinate  to  the  one  big  objective  men- 
tioned above. 

To  bring  the  standards  of  teaching  in  schools  of  religion  up  to  those 
of  the  public  school  at  least,  is  one  of  the  aims  of  these  directors.  Public- 
school  authorities  are  demanding  that  if  the  time  of  the  child  is  allowed  for 
this  teaching,  those  who  do  it  must  have  been  trained  in  the  art  of  teaching. 
These  authorities  wll  not  be  satisfied  if  it  is  done  no  better  than  it  has  been 
done  in  the  average  Sunday  school.  They  must  be  guaranteed  that  the  time 
of  the  child  will  be  well  and  wisely  spent. 

To  adapt  the  subject  matter  of  lessons  to  both  the  chronological  and 
mental  age  of  the  child  taught.  This  requires  grading.  The  old  hodge- 
podge method  of  teaching  the  same  lesson  to  the  children  of  the  Beginners' 
Department  which  is  taught  to  the  adults  of  the  school,  has  been  a  conspicu- 
ous failure  and  has  resulted  in  the  most  distressing  ignorance  of  the  Bible 
on  the  part  of  our  young  people,  who  were  thus  trained.  Our  teachers  have 
found  that  even  a  difference  of  one  year  in  the  children's  ages,  who  are  com- 
pelled to  be  in  the  same  class,  is  a  serious  handicap. 

Aside  from  the  religious  and  moral  value  of  the  Bible  content,  the  stock 
of  knowledge  acquired  from  the  Bible  has  such  large  value  in  the  interpreta- 
tion of  literature  and  other  forms  of  art,  that  no  one  can  be  considered  edu- 
cated who  is  ignorant  of  this  knowledge.  Educational  institutions  are  rap- 
idly finding  out  this  fact  and,  in  many  cases,  they  are  requiring  it  either  for 
entrance,  or  graduation.    There  are  difficulties  in  the  way  at  present  of  the 


86  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

Public-school  authorities  taking  up  this  work;  our  plan  seems  to  meet  the 
demands  without  encountering  these  difficulties. 

Thousands  of  children  in  cities  like  ours  are  entirely  without  any  re- 
ligious training.  Our  plan  is  able  to  give  this  training  to  large  numbers, 
who  otherwise  would  be  without  it. 

In  conclusion,  may  we  say,  that  we  have  not  had  in  view  the  securing 
of  a  large  enrollment.  On  the  other  hand,  we  have  tried  to  avoid  this  very 
thing.  We  have  been  more  intent  on  securing  a  high  grade  of  work,  some- 
thing that  will  measure  up  nearerjo  the  best  educational  ideals.  A  fair 
measure  of  success  at  least  has  attended  our  efforts,  we  have  good  reasons 
to  believe.  The  movement  has  grown  steadily  into  favor  with  churches, 
schools  and  the  public  in  general.  It  has  stimulated  many  Sunday  schools 
to  do  better  work,  as  many  evidences  prove,  and  many  are  led  to  believe 
that  the  plan  will  become  an  integral  part  of  the  educational  system  of  our 
country.  Charles  M.  Brunson, 

Superintendent  Toledo  Week-Day  Bible  Schools. 


AIMS,  AS  SEEN  BY  A  DIRECTOR 

In  March,  1921,  the  North  Woodward  Week-day  School  of  Religion, 
for  children  of  the  first  seven  grades,  was  begun  as  a  community  school,  with 
the  cooperation  of  the  Presbyterian,  Baptist,  Christian  and  Congregational 
churches,  all  of  which  are  within  live  blocks  of  each  other  on  the  Avenue. 
The  school  is  held  in  the  educational  rooms  of  the  North  Woodward  Avenue 
Congregational  Church.  There  are  two  other  churches  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood,  but  at  that  time  they  were  not  ready  to  join  with  us.  The 
pupils  came  to  the  school  on  their  own  time  from  four  until  five-thirty  on 
Wednesday  afternoons.  Although  the  school  was  divided  into  the  Primary 
and  Junior  departments,  it  was  not  completely  graded.  The  former  depart- 
ment was  studying  the  life  of  Jesus,  while  the  latter  was  making  a  more  in- 
tensive study  of  the  Old  Testament  stories  -than  that  made  in  the  Sunday 
school. 

The  aims  of  the  school  in  this  first  year,  which  was,  indeed,  an  experi- 
ment for  all.  were: 

1.  To  teach  the  pupils  more  of  the  Bible  and  to  broaden  their  religious 
experience,  realizing  that  the  one  hour  on  Sunday  was  not  enough  for  these 
things. 

2.  To  create  public  opinion  among  the  parents  and  children  of  the 
North  End  for  a  new  importance  of  the  church  as  an  institution  which  is 
interested  in  the  educational  and  well-doing  of  its  boys  and  girls.  We  wanted 
to  create  a  Icwe  for  the  church  and  an  interest  in  it  as  a  good  place  to  come 
during  the  week  as  well  as  on  Sunday. 

3.  To  prove  to  the  community  and  to  ourselves  that  the  neighborhood 
churches  could  establish  a  school  and  work  together  for  a  common  purpose 
in  harmony.  This  fact,  which  was  greatly  doubted,  needed  to  be  demon- 
strated more  at  that  time  than  ever  before  because  the  proposition  of  restor- 
ing the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the  public  schools  in  a  recent  election  had  been 
defeated  by  the  people  of  Michigan.  As  a  campaign  issue  the  Catholics  had 
repeatedly  challenged  the  Protestants  to  unite  in  some  form  of  religious 
education  for  their  children  as  they  themselves  do,  thus  making  it  less  neces- 
sary for  the  Bible  to  be  brought  into  the  pubHc  schools. 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  87 

As  for  the  accomplishment  of  these  aims,  those  of  us  who  were  closest 
to- the  work  agree  without  reservation  that  they  met  with  our  highest  hopes. 

With  a  new  enthusiasm,  a  disappearance  of  all  doubts  as  to  the  cooper- 
ative ability  of  the  various  denominations,  with  a  strong  committee  of 
Religious  Education  and  an  experienced  faculty  of  twelve  teachers  the 
school  began  a  second  session  in  October. 

This  year,  with  the  school  completely  graded  and  with  the  use  of  a  curri- 
culum compiled  by  our  own  committee,  whose  work  is  done  with  the  needs 
of  our  particular  children  in  mind,  and  with  one  other  denomination  joining 
with  us  and  another  being  invited  in  as  guests  (at  their  request)  we  have 
enlarged  our  aims  for  the  school : 

1.  We  still  want  the  child  to  know  more  about  the  Bible  from  the 
standpoint  of  its  historical  background,  its  literary  value,  and  its  Christian 
teachings. 

2.  We  want  the  children  to  learn  that  the  church  is  interested  in  their 
problems  and  that  the  church  is  for  the  child  to  use  through  the  week  as 
well  as  on  Sunday. 

3.  We  want  the  child  to  learn  the  Bible  and  to  study  religion  through 
handwork,  dramatization,  Bible  story-telling  contests,  motion  pictures,  note 
books  and  the  stereopticon  as  well  as  through  the  Book  itself. 

4.  We  are  training  the  children  in  worship  with  the  aid  of  well  chosen 
scripture  readings,  hymns,  stories  and  talks  and  prayers. 

5.  We  aim  to  make  the  child  feel  at  home  in  the  church  environment  so 
that  his  church  life  will  become  a  part  of  him. 

6.  We  are  not  consciously  attempting  anything  entirely  different  from 
the  Sunday-school  program ;  the  lesson  materials  only  being  different  from 
those  used  on  Sunday.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  there  are  four  different 
courses  of  lessons  used  in  the  Sunday  schools  of  the  six  cooperating 
churches,  the  week-day  work  cannot  be  co-ordinated.  We  are  sure,  how- 
ever, that  we  are  not  repeating  the  Sunday  lessons  and  vice  versa. 

7.  We  are  aiming  further  to  demonstrate  the  ability  for,  and  wisdom 
of,  community  churches  working  together,  the  best  teachers  of  each  making 
their  contribution  rather  than  each  church  using  such  talent  as  it  may  have. 

8.  As  the  school  progresses  we  are  making  it  a  community  center  for 
training  boys  and  girls  in  Christian  citizenship  by  giving  to  them  broader 
opportunities  for  performing  acts  of  service  and  leading  in  pupil  activities. 

George  S.  Yaple, 
North  Woodzvard  Week-day  Schools,  Detroit. 


Aims — The  Protestant  Teachers'  x\ssociation 

No  one  outside  of  the  home  comes  into  closer  contact  with  the 
child  than  the  public-school  teacher,  and  to  that  teacher  is  revealed  the 
atmosphere  of  the  home  from  which  the  child  comes,  his  training  and 
his  character — or  the  lack  of  it !  The  modern  school  is  ministering  to 
the  mental,  physical  and  moral  needs  of  the  child  in  a  constantly  pro- 
gressive manner,  but  one  most  important  avenue  of  approach  to  the 
mind  of  the  child  is  necessarily  sadly  limited.  The  idea  of  "freedom 
to  worship  God" — or  no  God — precludes,  in  our  mixed  population,  the 
possibility  of  teaching  religion  in  the  public  schools.  But  religion  is 
the  greatest  dynamic  in  all  life,  and  the  child  must  have  training  in 


88  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 


religious  thought  and  practice  if  he  is  to  adjust  himself  properly  to  the 
world  about  him. 

A  group  of  Christian  public-school  teachers  was  so  stirred  by  the 
lack  in  many  of  their  children  of  knowledge  of  right  and  wrong,  of 
honesty,  of  truth  telling  and  of  any  acquaintance  with  the  Bible — the 
great  text  book  which  gives  us  "the  Light  unto  our  path"  in  these 
character-building  virtues,  that  they  wanted  to  do  something  about  it! 
The  Sunday  schools  are  doing  what  they  can,  but  they,  too,  are  limited — 
limited  by  time,  (one  day  and  one  hour  a  week)  by  the  lack  of  co-opera- 
tion in  the  home,  by  the  lack  of  sufificient  and  sufficiently-trained  teach- 
ers, by  the  lack  of  funds. 

Just  as  the  public  school  is  constantly  progressing  in  the  scope  of 
the  educational  training  of  future  citizens,  so  must  the  church  progress 
in  equal  measure  in  its  work  of  religious  education. 

As  the  Sunday  hour  is  too  short  for  an  adequate  program,  there 
must  be  other  hours  added  during  the  week.  The  curriculum  must  be 
one  that  shall  constantly,  in  all  grades,  present  to  the  child  the  truth 
that  God  is  in  his  life,  loving,  helping,  teaching  and  guiding  him  into  a 
manhood  that  shall  help  to  build  a  better  and  a  happier  city,  country  and 
world.  The  aims  of  The  Protestant  Teachers  Association  are,  there- 
fore : 

1st:     Through  the  medium  of  song,  story  and  study  of  the  Bible  to 

help  all  the  children  they  can  reach,  to  "grow  in  grace  and 

in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ" ;  and 

to  do  it  in  a  well  trained  and  progressively  efficient  manner. 

2nd:     To  co-operate  with  all  other  agencies  having  a  similar  aim, 

helping  in  all  ways  possible,  to  strengthen  their  hands. 
3rd :     To  work  toward  a  time  when  every  church  in  New  York  City 
shall  realize  that  its  church  school  is  the  most  necessary  and 
fundamental  part  of  the  church  work  and  .use   its  best  re- 
sources in  carrying  out  a  program  of  real  religious  education 
for  the  children  of  its  communtiy. 
There  are  problems  all  along  the  line — we  are  far  below  the  stand- 
ard we  wish  to  hold — but,  we  are  teaching  several  hundred  children 
the  stories  and  the  fundamental  truths  of  the  Bible,  the  spirit  of  worship, 
the  spirit  of  service  and  the  spirit  of  world  friendship. 

Mary  W.  Newton,  Educational  Director, 
The  Protestant  Teachers'  Association,  New  York  City. 


AIMS,  AS  SEEN   BY  A  TEACHER 

First  of  all,  we  hope  to  produce  changes  in  the  children  so  that  they 
become  thoughtful,  intelligent,  active  Christian  citizens  at  home,  at  play, 
at  school,  at  work,  at  church,  in  the  street  or  the  community.  Christian  citi- 
zens who  are  gaining  habits  of  action  so  that  such  petty  matters  as  to 
whether  one  shall  take  the  largest  piece  of  cake,  how  one  shall  spend  a  dollar, 
how  one  shall  treat  his  sister  as  well  as  the  more  important  considerations 
of  how  one  shall  spend  his  leisure  time,  what  one's  responsibility  is  toward 
his  neighbors  are  faced  in  the  light  of  the  ideals  of  Christ.     Christian  citi- 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  89 


zens  who  from  thousands  of  habits  generalize  so  that  they  have  a  rich,  full 
conception  of  what  the  Christian  virtues  (such  as  honesty,  love,  reverence, 
service,  truthfulness)  include;  so  that  they  act  on  the  basis  of  this  knowl- 
edge. Christian  citizens  who  as  boys  and  girls  gain  the  help,  as  a  source  of 
control,  which  comes  from  a  knowledge  of  the  religious  experiences  recorded 
in  the  Bible  or  elsewhere,  from  the  ideals  of  Jesus,  or  from  fellov^^ship  with 
the  Heavenly  Father  through  prayer  or  praise. 

Not  only  does  our  school  hope  to  help  the  boys  and  girls  solve  their 
daily  individual  problems  as  Christians  but  we  also  hope  to  help  solve  their 
group  problems.  If  at  school  the  ideals  held  or  practiced  in  regard  to 
honor  in  examinations  are  not  the  highest  we  hope  that  our  boys  and  girls 
will  in  a  friendly,  cooperative  spirit,  initiate  a  movement  that  will  tend  to 
better  these  ideals.  Just  so  we  will  hope  that  later  on  as  adults  these  boys 
and  girls  will  strive  to  change  society  so  that  the  Kingdom  of  God  may  be 
more  nearly  realized.  We  hope  that,  in  both  individual  and  group  problems, 
there  will  be  recognized,  as  an  aim,  the  need  of  a  constant  religious  growth 
so  that  each  individual  and  each  group  will  be  continually  opening  up  new 
lines  of  religious  activity.  For  we  maintain  that  if  boys  and  girls  solve 
childhood's  problems  on  the  basis  of  Christian  principles  they  will  as  adults 
be  more  ready  to  accept  their  responsibility  as  "mature  Christian  citizens 
working  for  a  democracy  of  God." 

Correlative  to  this  view  of  Christian  citizenship  is  the  conception  that 
the  children  in  the  Week-day  School  of  Religion  must  acquire  the  essen- 
tials in  that  fund  of  information  which  makes  up  our  religious  inheritance. 
Much  of  the  information  is  gained  as  motive  for  duties  as  Christian  citizens. 
The  source  of  much  of  it  is  the  Bible.  Any  adequate  scheme  of  Religious 
Education,  however,  needs  to  include  not  only  the  essential  facts  from  the 
Bible,  but  also  the  essential  facts  in  the  religious  inheritance  in  music,  art, 
and  literature.  Lives  of  men — as  St.  Francis  of  Assissi,  or  Livingstone,  or 
Grenfell,  stories  of  the  Crusaders  and  the  Holy  Grail,  pictures — as  the  Last 
Supper  and  Pilgrims  Going  to  Church,  music — as  the  famous  old  hymns,  the 
Messiah — these  and  much  other  material  will  help  to  give  an  intellectua* 
background  for  rich,  full  religious  experience. 

In  the  third  place  we  feel  that  our  school  should  provide  experiences  in 
worship  which  make  possible  a  fellowship  wath  the  Father  in  so  simple  a 
matter  as  the  enjoyment  of  a  sunset,  or  in  the  pleasure  derived  from  reading 
a  good  book;  experiences  which  provide  a  conception  of  full  communica- 
tion with  God;  experiences  which  make  companionship  with  the  Father  so 
real  that  all  activity  is  carried  on  with  and  through  Him. 

These  experiences,  then,  of  solving  life  problems  as  Christians,  of  gain- 
ing the  essential  information  of  the  religious  inheritance,  and  of  fellowship 
with  God,  we  feel  that  our  children  need  in  order  to  '"have  life  and  to  have 
it  more  abundantly."  Edna  L.  Acheson, 

Tonaivanda,  Nezv  York. 


Aims — As  Seen  by  a  Community  Director 
Our  Aims  are  conditioned  by  the  following  factors : 
1.     Factors  which  limit  our  work: 

a.  The  curriculum  of  the  child  is  already  overcrowded.     A  few 
days  ago  one  of  our  Principals  made  this  statement,  "On  the 


90  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

average  two  causes  each  week  up  to  the  present  time  have 
sought  privileges  for  the  child  during  school  hours." 

b.  Protestantism  is  relatively  weak  so  that  we  cannot  boast  of 
numbers  in  our  school. 

c.  Appleton  presents  no  problem  of  the  unchurched.  There 
are  no  slums.  On  the  other  hand  few  parents  feel  that  their 
children  need  more  and  better  religious  instruction  than  is 
is  received  in  the  Sunday  school. 

d.  Our  church  buildings  are  all  located  in  the  heart  of  our  city 
thus  making  the  distance  that  a  number  of  the  children  must 
go  to  reach  our  class  rooms  a  problem. 

2.     Factors  favorable  to  our  work : 

a.  The  Ministerial  Association  as  recently  constituted  favors 
the  work. 

b.  The  school  boards  want  our  plan  to  be  given  a  fair  trial. 

c.  The  school  principals  for  the  most  part  are  favorable. 

d.  Lawrence  College  furnishes  impetus  and  leadership  to  the 
movement. 

II.     General  Aims  of  Organization,  Method,  and  Curriculum. 

1.  The  Organization  is  not  of  the  individual  church  type  but  is  a 
Community-Church  Plan  where  the  ministers  and  laymen 
elected  to  represent  their  churches  constitute  the  leadership. 
Our  slogan  is— "EACH  RELIGIOUS  BODY  RESPONSI- 
BLE FOR  THE  RELIGIOUS  LIFE  OF  THE  CITY'S 
YOUTH  EITHER  INDIVIDUALLY  OR  CO-OPERA- 
TIVELY." Eight  churches  co-operate  in  using  the  same 
teachers,  supervision,  curriculum,  and  buildings.  In  addition 
a  number  of  other  churches  carry  on  the  work  individually. 

2.  Aims  in  the  Method  of  our  plan : 

a.  To  maintain  educational  standards  equivalent  to  those  of 
the  public  schools. 

b.  To  have  churches,  either  individually  or  co-operatively,  ful- 
fill their  responsibility  for  the  religious  education  of  those 
children  committed  to  their  care. 

c.  To  correlate  with  the  public  school  by  reporting  weekly 
any  cases  of  absence  or  unsatisfactory   scholarship. 

d.  To  correlate  with  the  church  schools  so  that  duplication  of 
efifort  shall  be  avoided. 

e.  To    insure    creditable    work   by    maintaining    a    high-grade 

training  school  for  religious  leaders  in  the  church,  the  vaca- 
tion Bible  School  and  the  Week-day  Church  School. 

3.  The   Curriculum   used   consists   of   Biblical   as   well   as   extra- 

Biblical  sources  which  are  adapted  to  the  interests  and  ca- 
pacities of  the  boys  and  girls,  furnishing  them  with  the  funda- 
mental teachings  of  Christian  conduct. 

III.     Specific  Aims.     (Note:     These  are  not  ultimate  aims  but  those  con- 
ditioned by  local  factors  already  mentioned.) 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  91 


1.     What  we  aim  to  do  for  the  child: 

a.  Make  religion  an  integral  part  of  the  child's  education,  so 
that  religious  concepts,  habits,  attitudes  are  a  vital  part  of 
his  development. 

b.  Acquaint  the  child  with  the  Bible.  Necessary  technique  in 
its  use  and  an  understanding  of  its  content. 

c.  Provide  expressional  activities  that  will  lead  to  the  use  of 
the  work  presented  in  the  class  room  through  methods  of 

dramatization,  hard  work,  note  book  work,  Christian  service 
projects. 

d.  Develop  a  rich  Christian  life  by  acquainting  the  youth  with 
the  Master-Teacher's  way  of  living  so  that  their  thinking 
and  living  will  be  undergirded  with  Christian  principles. 

f.  To  lead  the  boys  and  girls  of  various  denominations  to  feel 
that  they  worship  the  same  God,  serve  the  same  Christ,  and 
are  children  of  the  same  Father,  working  together  for  the 
same  purpose.  This  Spirit  of  Christian  co-operation  gives 
a  dynamic  and  interest  to  their  enthusiasm  that  their  in- 
dividual church   cannot  give. 

2.  Our  aims  concerning  the  Home :  Inasmuch  as  the  home  pre- 
sents increasing  possibilities  for  religiously  educating  the 
youth  if  direction  be  given,  we  make  provision  for  this  direc- 
tion : 

a.  Arrange  for  parents  to  visit  our  school  so  that  they  get  first 
hand  information. 

b.  Letters  to  parents  explaining  problems  of  the  work. 

c.  Parents-Teachers  meetings  dealing  with  fundamental  issues. 

d.  Special  classes  in  our  Community  Training  School. 

e.  Convey  information  through  the  children  themselves. 

3.  Our  aims  concerning  the  Church : 

a.  To  so  correlate  the  work  of  our  school  with  the  church 
that  there  shall  be  no  duplication,  and  at  the  same  time 
give  in  the  week-day  school  the  fundamentals  of  Christi- 
anity so  that  the  church  will  have  more  time  to  emphasize 
a  healthful,  positive  and  intelligent  denominationalism. 

b.  Assist  the  church  in  demonstrating  effective  methods  of 
instruction  as  well  as  help  develop  leaders  for  the  work. 

4.  Our  aim  as  the  work  concerns  the  Community:  to  emphasize 
the  worth  of  Christian  principles  of  conduct  in  all  phases 
of  life. 

5.  Our  aim  for  the  cause  of  Religious  Education  is  to  develop 
a  successful  plan  of  Religious  Education  that  is  simple  in  its 
organization,  fair  to  all  churches,  easily  adapted  to  similar 
communities,  and  at  the  same  time  reaches  the  unchurched 
boys  and  girls. 

Earle  E.  Emme, 
Professor  of  Religious  Education,  Lawrence  College, 
and  Community  Director  for  Applet  on,  Wisconsin. 


opposing  Theories  of  the  Curriculum 

George  A.  Coe 

Probably  no  other  problem  causes  as  deep  and  wide-spread  con- 
sciousness of  difficulty  in  setting  going-  week-day  schools  of  religion 
as  that  of  the  curriculum.  Preliminary  reports  from  the  field  indicate 
wide  divergencies  in  material  used,  and  a  remarkable  inclination  to 
vary  from  all  printed  plans  and  text-books.  In  several  centers  entire 
courses  of  study  have  been  constructed,  or  projected  and  partly  con- 
structed, by  local  leaders.  We  may  therefore  take  it  for  granted  that 
the  discussion  of  this  subject  at  the  coming  Conference  will  be  an  eager 
one.  It  is  expected,  and  hoped,  that  all  the  opposing  points  of  view 
will  meet  in  friendly  clash.  The  Program  Committee,  desiring  that  the 
real  grounds  of  difference  should  be  recognized  as  early  in  the  discus- 
sion as  possible,  has  requested  me  to  prepare  in  advance  a  brief  ex- 
position of  the  various  contrasting  theories.  Theories  only ;  it  is  no 
part  of  my  duty  to  describe  or  judge  any  curriculum  anywhere  in  ex- 
istence. Further,  I  am  charged  not  to  attack  or  defend  anything,  but 
rather  to  make  an  uncolored  analysis  of  how  men  think  upon  this  prob- 
lem and  why  they  think  as  they  do.  This  does  not  imply,  I  suppose,  any 
concealment  of  my  own  leanings,  but  rather  such  a  disengagement 
of  the  factors  that  determine  our  thinking  as  will  show  just  where 
divergences  between  us  take  their  rise. 

The  factors  involved  constitute,  as  it  were,  so  many  threads  which 
are  twisted,  woven,  and  even  tangled  together  in  various  ways  in  dif- 
ferent minds  and  different  groups  of  minds.  Our  first  task,  then,  is  to 
recognize  each  of  these  threads,  and  our  second,  to  indicate  the  more 
significant  combinations  of  them  that  one  meets  in  efforts  to  construct 
new  curricula. 

I 

What  is  in  our  minds,  either  as  definite  purpose  or  as  undefined 
assumption,  when  we  approach  the  curriculum  problem?  In  other 
words,  what  are  the  habits  and  what  the  active  interests  that  determine 
the  direction  of  our  preferences  and  of  our  procedures?  At  least  seven 
are  discernible. 

1 — First  of  all,  there  are  different  ways  of  taking  the  general  term 
"curriculum".  Most  persons  follow,  in  the  main,  a  popular  tradition 
to  the  effect  that  a  curriculum  or  course  of  study  is  made  up  of  various 
sorts  of  knowledge  arranged  in  an  order  appropriate  to  economical 
learning  (as,  first  the  simple,  then  the  complex).  The  persistence  of 
this  tradition  is  rather  surprising.  For  various  acts — as  writing,  spell- 
ing, computation — that  have  skill  rather  than  knowledge  as  their  end 
have  been  included  in  schooling  from  very  early  times,  and  still  other 
acts — as  singing,  drawing,  and  supervised  play — that  have  in  vieAv  ap- 
preciation or  enriched  living  rather  than  either  knowledge  or  skill,  have 
more  recently  acquired  an  established  place  in  public  education.  In 
religious  education  we  have  a  parallel  situation.  For  such  things  as 
worship,  the  giving  of  money,  and  the  performance  of  deeds  of  mercy, 
help,  and  cooperation,  are  clearly  coming  to  be  included  in  the  regular 
program.  Shall  they  be  included,  then,  under  the  term  "curriculum"? 
Here  our  thinking  divides,  or  at  least  compromises.  Most  of  us,  even 
most  of  our  leaders,  appear  to  mean  by  curriculum  of  religious  educa- 

[NoTE. — As  the  occasion  for  this  article  is  a  set  of  situations  in  Christian  schools,  I  have  not 
considered  theories  that  are  more  directly  related  to  Jewish  schools.] 

92 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  93 

tion  a  body  of  religious  knowledge  or  ideas,  to  be  associated  with  a 
rather  indefinite  fringe  of  worship  and  other  exercises.  But  some  of  us 
would  like  to  make  the  term  mean  frankly  the  entire  series  of  experi- 
ences and  activities  that  we  plan  for  pupils. 

The  divergence  here  is  probably  more  radical  than  appears  at  first 
sight.  For  those  who  take  the  inclusive  view  are  estopped  from  merely 
adding  this  or  that  activity  to  what  is  "taught" ;  it  is  now  assumed  that 
the  activities  themselves  teach,  and  that  what  they  teach  is  not  added 
to  but  included  in  the  curriculum  plan.  Personal  relations,  class 
procedure,  departmental  organization — to  name  a  few  examples — now 
cease  to  be  mere  conditions  of  teaching,  or  school  machinery ;  they  are 
of  the  very  substance  of  teaching.* 

2 — A  second  factor  that  almost  insensibly  shapes  our  thinking  upon 
the  curriculum  is  the  habit  of  conceiving  educational  problems  in  terms 
of  existing  institutions  rather  than  in  terms  of  the  field  and  its  needs. 
When  anyone  says  "religious  education"  probably  ninety-nine  persons 
in  a  hundred  think  "Sunday  school."  Thus  it  is  that  the  limitations 
of  this  particular  institution  tend  to  become  presuppositions  of  the 
week-day  church  school.  Take,  for  example,  the  tradition  of  uniformity : 
Does  it  not  cause  a  wrench  even  to  take  in  the  idea  that  different 
curricula  may  be  needed  for  various  population  groups  (rural,  immi- 
grant, the  unchurched,  for  example),  or  that  classes  of  pupils  drawn 
from  the  same  population  group  might  differ  so  greatly  in  their  needs 
as  to  require  entirely  different  courses  of  study? 

Again,  there  is  the  deadening  tendency  to  scale  down  our  whole 
conception  of  what  is  to  be  done  to  the  size  of  our  Sunday-school  de- 
fects and  errors — our  untrained  teachers,  our  piffling  methods,  our  pre- 
digested  pellets  of  spiritual  food  (one  for  each  Sunday,  all  dated  and 
labeled).  When  anything  is  proposed  upon  the  basis  of  the  demon- 
strable needs  of  a  field,  it  is  likely  to  be  met  with  pious  sighs,  coupled 
with  gasps  of  "visionary". 

Finally,  there  is  a  tendency  to  take  the  Sunday-school  for  granted, 
and  to  think  of  the  week-day  enterprise  as  a  thing  by  itself,  with  a  cur- 
riculum-problem that  is  exclusively  its  own.  But  it  is  possible  to  take 
an  exactly  contrary  view,  and  some  are  doing  so.  They  regard  the 
week-day  movement  as  progress  toward  educational  normality  which 
the  Sunday-school  never  did  represent  and  under  its  present  form  never 
can.  These  persons  cannot  think  of  the  present  curriculum-problem  either  as 
that  of  extending  Sunday-school  courses  into  week-days,  or  as  that  of 
devising  a  special  and  independent  set  of  courses ;  they  think,  rather, 
that  we  are  called  to  make  a  new  and  fresh  approach  to  the  whole 
problem  of  the  church  school,  and  that  the  curriculum-makers  should 
at  once  take  steps  looking  toward  courses  of  study  that  shall  include 
in  a  single,  consistent  plan,  both  Sunday  sessions  and  week-day  ses- 
sions. 

3 — One's  approach  to  the  curriculum-problem  is  bound  to  be  in- 
fluenced, of  course,  by  one's  view  of  the  Bible,  and  likewise  by  custom 
in  the  use  of  it.  For  those  of  highly  conservative  views,  religious 
education  consists  essentially  in  teaching  the  Bible;  a  moderate  group 
affirms  that  great  experiences  other  than  those  recorded  in  the  Bible, 
particularly  experiences  under  the  historic  influence  of  the  Bible  and 
of  Jesus,  are  likewise  worthy  of  a  place  in  the  curriculum ;  a  third  group 
of  minds,  affirming  that  the  determining  consideration   is  the  kind   of 


*"The    chief    things   the   pupils    appeared    to    be    learning,"    s«id    an    experienced    teacher    upon 
observing  a  certain   school   in   session,    "were   bad   habits". 


94  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 

men  and  of  society  that  we  desire  to  produce,  would  choose  freely  any 
kind  of  material  that  works  best  toward  this  end. 

There  is  involved  here  a  complex  of  differences  and  oppositions. 
Thus,  presuppositions  as  to  authority — a  vital  question  for  educational 
procedure — divide  us.  The  conservative  assumes  that  all  essential  mat- 
ters are  already  settled,  forever  settled,  and  that  the  function  of  teach- 
ing is  to  lead  the  pupil  to  adjust  his  thinking  and  his  choices  accord- 
ingly. On  the  other  hand,  those  who  themselves  have  freely  used 
historical  methods  in  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  tend  to  approve  the 
cultivation  of  judgment  in  pupils,  with  the  consequence  of  a  different 
perspective  with  reference  to  the  entire  content  of  the  curriculum.  The 
conservative  has  a  predetermined  set  of  ideas  to  impose  upon  the  pupil ; 
the  liberal,  viewing  these  ideas  in  their  history,  finds  some  of  greater 
worth  than  others,  invites  pupils  to  judge  relative  values,  and  to  this 
end  he  introduces  material  from  a  wider  range  of  experience. 

If  we  look  a  little  deeper,  we  shall  see  reason  for  questioning 
whether  the  conservative  theory  of  the  curriculum  is  quite  as  strictly 
biblical  as  it  is  popularly  supposed  to  be.  For  the  obvious  policy  is, 
not  to  present  the  whole  Bible — or  indeed  any  part  of  it — with  the 
objectivity  of  the  historical  or  scientific  mind,  but  to  offer  biblical  con- 
firmation for  doctrines  held  by  some  religious  body  or  party.  A  certain 
view  of  the  supernatural,  of  the  inspiration  and  authority  of  the  Bible, 
of  sin  and  its  penalty,  of  redemption,  of  conversion  and  regeneration, 
and  so  on — this  furnishes  the  actual  backbone  or  structural  principle. 

I  cannot  help  thinking  that  there  is  a  deal  of  confusion  in  the 
arguments  pro  and  con  with  respect  to  "extra-biblical  material."  For 
all  parties  really  make  constant  use  of  large  quantities  of  material  that 
is  related  to  the  Bible  but  is  not  it.  The  real  issue,  then,  is  not,  Shall 
we  choose  all  or  nearly  all  our  material  from  the  Bible  (for  nobody 
does  this)  ?  but.  How  much  use  shall  we  make  of  church  doctrines,  and 
what  doctrines  shall  we  teach?  Is  indoctrination  what  we  really  want? 
Or — to  use  the  lingo  of  the  liberal — Christlike  living? 

A — It  goes  without  saying  that  one's  ecclesiastical  relations  and 
one's  convictions  concerning  the  church  and  the  churches  affect  one's 
assumptions  as  to  the  curriculum.  These  assumptions  are  often  half- 
conscious,  sometimes  amusingly  naive.  It  speaks  well  for  the  good 
temper  of  our  times  that  men  and  women  of  various  ecclesiastical  com- 
plexions are  working  together  for  the  improvement  of  religious  educa- 
tion without  compromising  their  assumptions,  yet  without  friction.  In 
this  generous  spirit  we  may  take  note  of  the  fact  that  if  the  church  (or 
a  church)  is  understood  to  be  ''the  body  of  Christ,"  and  if  the  divine 
calling  of  a  man  is  to  be  "a  lively  member"  of  the  same,  then  the  essence 
of  the  curriculum  is  initiation  into  the  fellowship  of  believers.  Under 
this  assumption  we  shall  not  only  present  the  Bible  in  the  dogmatic 
guise  already  described,  but  we  shall  present  also  the  dogmas  of  the 
church  in  their  own  proper  form,  and  in  addition  we  shall  lay  great 
stress  upon  participation  of  pupils  in  church  worship ;  upon  training  in 
the  ideas,  attitudes,  and  acts  pertaining  to  the  sacraments ;  upon  selected 
phases  of  church  history,  and  upon  the  organization,  government,  and 
enterprises  of  our  own  communion. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  phases  of  this  ecclesiastical  approach 
to  the  curriculum-problem  is  the  extent  to  which,  in  principle,  it  tran- 
scends the  notion  that  the  curriculum  is  to  be  made  up  of  ideas  that 
come  to  us  out  of  the  past.  For  the  pupil's  actual  participation  in  the 
present  life  of  the  church  now  becomes  a  recognized   and  prominent 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  95 

part  of  a  course  of  study.     To  this  extent,  education  is  here  identical 
with  life  itself,  and  is  no  longer  merely  preparation  for  living. 

But  the  degree  to  which  the  church  (or  a  church)  is  identified  with 
the  family  of  God  differs  from  group  to  group.  There  are  those  among 
us  who  desire  to  fuse  religious  education  with  life  in  a  wider  sense, 
on  a  larger  scale.  To  them  the  church  is  not  so  much  an  ultimate  end ; 
it  contains  something  ultimate,  indeed,  as  do  various  other  social  in- 
stitutions, but  in  respect  to  growth,  persistence,  and  decay  it  is  subject 
to  the  same  historical  laws  as  other  voluntary  organizations.  Educators 
who  proceed  from  this  point  of  view  may,  and  sometimes  do  make 
participation  in  the  worship  and  life  of  the  church  a  prominent  part  of 
the  curriculum,  but  they  conceive  this  participation  as  having  its  great- 
est significance  in  its  effect  upon  the  larger  human  life  that  surrounds 
and  includes  all  the  churches,  and  that  similarly  surrounds  and  includes 
other  social  institutions.  Here  the  church  becomes  an  organ  for  doing 
work;  it  takes  upon  itself  the  form  of  a  servant,  is  tested  by  its  service, 
acknowledges  the  risk  of  possibly  going  wrong  and  needing  to  repent, 
and  assumes  also  the  sacrificial  risk  of  losing  its  life  in  the  interest  of 
life.  From  this  point  of  view  the  participation  of  pupils  in  church  life 
means  fellowship  with  their  elders  in  finding  out  the  needs  of  men  in 
the  community  and  in  the  larger  world,  and  in  going  to  work  to  serve 
those  who  need  us,  the  whole  being  suffused  with  the  experience  of 
worship. 

5 — Involved  in  what  has  just  been  said  is  an  opposition  that  is 
often  designated  as  that  between  individualistic  and  social  views  of 
salvation.  Probably  nothing  in  the  religious  education  movement  of 
the  last  twenty  years  tends  so  much  toward  discrediting  our  customary 
courses  of  study  as  the  social  conception  of  the  great  salvation.  We 
are  led  to  the  staggering,  precedent-smashing  conception  that  religious 
education  is  properly  one  of  the  main  agencies  for  setting  the  world 
right — for  redressing  ancient  injustices,  removing  disabilities,  and  trans- 
forming our  self-serving  political  and  economic  order  into  a  real  brother- 
hood. Upon  any  such  assumpton  as  this,  the  curriculum  must  open 
windows  upon  the  whole  moral  condition  of  the  community,  the  nation, 
the  world,  the  church  itself.  The  first  trail  in  this  direction  was  blazed 
when  missions  and  temperance  gained  a  recognized  place  in  Sunday- 
school  instruction.  There  are  those  among  us  who  would  now  change 
this  trail  into  a  broad  highway.  They  feel  that  studies  and  activities 
that  lead  toward  the  health  of  the  community,  removal  of  causes  of 
poverty,  enrichment  of  community  life,  the  establishment  of  economic 
justice  and  industrial  peace,  and  the  cessation  of  war  may  be  included 
in  the  religious  curriculum  without  impropriety — nay,  that  they  cannot 
be  omitted  without  impropriety. 

But  these  innovators  are  not  without  opposition.  Would  not  their 
principle  substitute  morals  or  applied  sociology  for  religion?  Isn't 
teaching  the  child  to  "get  right  with  God"  the  essential  work  of  the 
church  school?  So  some  think,  while  many  half-think  it.  This  oppo- 
sition and  this  reluctance  express  themselves,  of  course,  as  emphasis 
upon  several  of  the  positions  mentioned  in  preceding  paragraphs,  such 
as,  priority  of  the  need  for  biblical  knowledge  (and  the  brevity  of  time 
available  for  teaching  it),  the  need  of  indoctrination,  and  the  need  of 
church  consciousness,  habits,  and  loyalty. 

6 — Another  cleavage  plane  in  our  thinking  upon  the  curriculum 
concerns  our  view  of  the  relation  between  ideas,  beliefs,  and  knowledge, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  hand  character,  conduct,  and  effi- 
ciency.    Much  religious  education  and  most  preaching  presuppose  that 


96  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

the  order  of  spiritual  achievement  is  this:  First,  get  an  idea,  belief, 
or  piece  of  knowledge,  and  then  (perhaps  after  some  emotional  warm- 
ing up),  apply  it  by  a  decision  of  the  will.  It  would  take  us  too  far 
afield  if  we  were  to  attempt  here  to  show  the  scientific  grounds  upon 
which  this  piece  of  popular  psychology  has  been  more  and  more  chal- 
lenged in  our  time.  Enough  that  it  has  been  scientifically  shaken,  is 
indeed  tumbling  down  about  us.  Most  of  our  real  thinking,  it  is  held, 
if  not  all  of  it,  instead  of  being  an  independent  process  that  is  prelim- 
inary to  our  life-adjustments,  is  instead  a  phase  of  the  adjustment- 
process  itself.  Vital  thinking  takes  place  within  action,  finding  here 
its  stimulus  in  needs  and  problems,  and  its  goal  in  control  of  action  and 
its  conditions.  If  this  be  so,  education  has  to  do  with  purposes  primarily 
and  directly. 

Two  main  modifications  of  the  general  theory  of  the  "material" 
of  the  curriculum  result.  First,  problems  to  be  solved  become  promi- 
nent— that  is,  problems  that  the  pupil  himself  feels  as  his  own.  Instead 
of  presenting  principles  first,  without  regard  to  the  pupil's  need  of 
them,  problems  are  (so  to  say)  set  going,  and  pupils  who  solve  them 
arrive  at  the  principle,  a  realization  of  its  value,  and  some  skill  in  using 
it.  Second,  the  curriculum  comes  to  include  typical  experiences  in  which 
important  problems  arise,  as  (in  the  state  school)  :  Enterprises  in  which 
the  pupil  feels  the  need  of  being  able  to  read,  to  keep  accounts,  to  un- 
derstand the  causes  of  natural  events,  to  know  how  men  in  other  ages 
lived  and  worked,  and  likewise  enterprises  in  which  the  need  of  co- 
operation is  felt  and  the  problem  arises  of  how  systematically  to 
cooperate.  The  school  now  becomes  a  place  where  the  child  acquires 
not  merely  a  set  of  standard  ideas  but  likewise  a  varied  experience  in 
living — the  raw  material  for  thought,  for  habit  formation,  and  for  per- 
manent life  purposes.  The  curriculum  material,  accordingly,  has  to  be 
defined,  in  part,  in  terms  of  projects,  that  is,  specific  real-life  enterprises 
which  children  may  whole-heartedly  choose,  plan,  and  carry  through, 
judging  the  process  and  the  product,  and  thereby  modifying  plans  or 
making  new  ones. 

If  we  adopt  the  project-principle  for  the  construction  of  the  curri- 
culum in  religion,  several  tendencies  already  mentioned  will  combine, 
and  they  will  be  supplemented  and  intensified.  We  shall  include  in  the 
curriculum  the  experience  of  worship,  but  we  shall  awaken  in  children's 
minds  the  problem  of  worship,  and  we  shall  lead  them  on  to  the  free 
control  and  improvement  of  their  worship.  We  shall  include  partici- 
pation in  activities  of  various  kinds  in  the  church  and  in  the  community, 
but  this  participation  will  be  so  planned  that  pupils  will  judge  both  ends 
and  processes,  and  dare  to  change  either.  We  shall  not  withhold  from 
pupils  any  part  of  the  church's  heritage  of  beliefs  and  hopes,  but  we 
shall  not  do  pupils'  thinking  for  them,  giving  them  cut-and-dried  con- 
clusions, and  then  searching  for  means  to  make  these  conclusions  seem 
true  and  important.  Rather,  we  shall  turn  attention  to  the  experiences 
out  of  which  important  beliefs  grow,  that  is,  the  points  in  life  at  which 
problems  arise,  and  we  shall  then  scrupulously  put  at  the  disposal  of 
pupils  the  sources  and  the  methods  for  real  thinking. 

This  will  demand  of  us,  of  course,  a  re-study  of  the  life  and  activi- 
ties of  our  pupils  and  of  ourselves  in  order  to  discover  the  situations 
that  require  control  by  means  of  thinking;  it  will  necessitate  experiment 
with  different  sorts  of  pupils  in  different  sorts  of  situation  in  order 
to  discover  types  of  project  and  of  procedure  that  make  a  vital  appeal, 
awakening  real  thinking  and  decisions  of  real  importance.    The  resulting 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  97 

text-books  will  doubtless  present  a  variety  of  options  for  every  grade, 
and  even  suggestions  for  finding  and  doing  unprecedented  things. 

I  have  made  sharp  the  contrast  between  this  and  our  customary 
approach  in  order  to  promote  clearness  as  to  where  each  of  us  actually 
stands,  not  with  any  thought  that  the  project-principle  or  any  other 
should  be  swallowed  at  a  gulp.  Even  one  who  accepts  the  project- 
principle  in  a  radical  way  will  have  to  find  by  gradual  experimentation 
how  to  apply  it;  he  is  estopped  by  his  own  theory  from  offering  us 
cut-and-dried  programs.  There  is  no  occasion,  then,  for  an  "all  or 
none"  attitude  on  either  side;  but  there  is  occasion  for  clearing  up  our 
policies.  Do  we  expect  to  secure  mature  religious  living  by  using  a 
curriculum  that  consists  predominantly  of  ideas  to  be  transferred  to 
young  minds  (together,  perhaps,  with  some  imitation  and  performance 
of  prescribed  acts),  or  one  that  consists  predominantly  of  projects  in 
which  pupils  reach  convictions  by  real  thinking,  and  attain  wisdom  and 
efficiency  by  actually  mastering  situations? 

7 — There  remain  for  consideration  certain  differences  as  to  the 
arrangement  and  the  gradation  of  the  material  or  the  projects  chosen. 
These  differences  seem  to  turn  upon  three  things :  a)  Wherever  au- 
thoritative, supposedly  unchangeable  doctrines  dominate  the  curricu- 
lum, there  gradation  tends  to  be  less  minute  and  to  take  the  form  of 
simplification,  with  its  correlate  of  much  repetition  of  the  same  ideas 
with  increase  of  detail  and  of  illustration,  b)  Wherever  religious  ex- 
perience is  conceived  predominantly  as  conversion,  and  wherever  con- 
firmation is  a  very  prominent  point  in  church  life,  material  tends  to 
be  organized  around  these  as  focal  points,  c)  Wherever  the  once- 
current  view  still  prevails  that  childhood  is  essentially  selfish,  and  essen- 
tially incapable  of  real  thinking  before  the  seventh  or  eight  grade, 
thought-provoking  material  tends  to  be  postponed  to  adolescence,  and 
worship  and  social  activities  tend  to  be  prescribed  or  imitative  until 
adolescence  brings  its  supposed  new  capacity  for  inwardness.  On  the 
other  hand,  those  who  deny  this  great  gap  between  childhood  and 
adolescence,  and  think  of  religion  as  normally  a  growth  through  and 
through,  tend  to  choose  material  and  processes  that  will  from  the  be- 
ginning stimulate  reflection,  initiative,  and  healthy/  inwardness,  the 
whole  being  arranged  upon  the  basis  of  the  pupil's  broadening  experi- 
ence of  life's  problems. 

II 

The  first  part  of  my  task — the  indication,  one  by  one,  of  the  in- 
fluences that  determine  our  thinking  upon  the  curriculum-problem — is 
now  done.  The  second  part  consists  in  showing  how  these  influences 
combine  in  the  various  existing  types  of  theory.  This  is  easy  for  a 
short  distance,  and  then  it  becomes  difficult.  The  older  theories  have 
been  crystallized  by  history,  while  the  newer  ones,  as  might  be  expected, 
are  more  fluid,  more  mixed,  more  ready  to  flow  into  one  another.  There- 
fore any  exposition  of  current  types  of  theory  will  be  likely  to  place 
together  writers  who  differ  from  one  another  noAv  in  one  respect,  now 
in  another,  and  to  separate  some  who  have  much  in  common.  I  am 
alive  to  the  danger  of  classifying  thinkers  who  may  not  have  asked 
quite  the  same  questions  that  I  am  now  raising,  and  may  have  given 
qualified  answers  to  the  questions  that  they  have  discussed.  If  mis- 
placements should  occur,  nothing  would  please  me  better  than  to  be 
corrected  not  only  in  the  interest  of  fairness  but  also  in  the  interest 
of  clear  discrimination  with  respect  to  a  profoundly  important  matter. 
There  seem  at  least  to  be  five  main  types  of  theory  concerning  the  cur- 
riculum of  the  church  school. 


98  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

A — The  Roman  Ecclesiastical  Type.  This  is  the  unadulterated  type 
described  under  4,  first  paragraph.  Its  most  characteristic  pre- 
supposition is  authority ;  its  content  is  dogma  plus  participation  in  the 
sacramental  life  of  the  church  plus  prescribed  rules  of  conduct;  its  in- 
tended effect,  individual  salvation  through  the  church.  It  assumes  the 
order,  First  the  idea,  or  the  formula,  then  the  deed.  The  gradation 
is  chiefly  simplification  of  a  content  that  is  the  same  for  all.  Perhaps 
no  other  writer  has  done  as  much  as  Professor  MacEachen  to  soften 
the  resulting  rigidity  of  Catholic  catechetics.  He  attempts  to  build  a 
whole  new  method  upon  the  thesis  that  "love  is  the  essence  of  re- 
ligion." Yet  even  he  has  to  include  in  his  first  course  for  little  children 
the  Trinity,  original  sin,  transsubstantiation,  and  much  more.^ 

B — The  Protestant  Ecclesiastical  Type.  The  point  of  view  stated  in 
the  first  paragraph  under  4  is  taken  for  granted  by  certain  Protestants 
also,  but  it  is  applied  with  more  variation  than  the  Roman  type  permits 
— more  variation  in  the  assumed  processes  and  methods,  and  more 
in  the  content  of  instruction.  Some  writers  adhere  more  rigorously  than 
others  to  the  teaching  of  dogma  as  the  very  essence,  or  at  least  center, 
of  religious  education.-  Others  would  make  the  initiation  into  the 
church,  and  through  the  church  into  the  still  larger  world,  a  far  more 
varied  experience — an  experience  in  which  the  devotional  life,  service  for 
others,  and  training  in  church  loyalty  are  included  along  with  informa- 
tion and  memorizing.^ 

C — The  Biblical-Dogmatic  Type.  "The  Bible  contains  in  every  part 
truth  for  the  weakest  and  the  strongest,"  said  the  late  Bishop  Vincent, 
in  an  argument  for  the  Uniform  Lessons.*  That  the  friends  of  the  sys- 
tem, when  they  opposed  graded  lessons,  had  something  more  than  the 
Bible  in  mind,  however,  is  made  clear  by  their  later  spokesman.  Dr. 
Sampey.^  They  were  consciously  protecting  certain  dogmas  concerning 
the  Bible  and  concerning  the  plan  of  salvation. 

D — Types  Characterised  by  "Enrichment  and  Adaptation  of  the  Ma- 
terial," or  by  this  and  the  Co-ordination  of  "Instruction,  Worship,  and 
Service.''  This  clumsy  heading  reflects  the  fact  that  we  have  a  con- 
siderable group  of  progressives  who  move  in  the  same  general  direction, 
but  some  of  whom  move  farther  than  others,  or  include  in  their  journey 
individual  "side-trips".  They  agree  on  the  following  points  at  least : 
a)  They  would  handle  the  Bible  in  harmony  with  historical  scholar- 
ship, b)  They  would  supplement  the  Bible  by  material  derived  [here 
great  diversities  appear]  from  literature,  history,  natural  science,  social 
life,  and  art.  c)  Because  they  give  less  place  than  do  preceding  types 
to  indoctrination  and  to  ecclesiastical  conformity,  and  instead  stress  re- 
ligious living  as  the  direct  end  of  instruction,  they  sift  biblical  and  other 
material  with  especial  reference  thereto,  d)  For  the  same  reason  they 
stress  the  proper  and  adequate  gradation  of  material.  As  a  rule  they 
base  gradation  upon  a  supposed  general  natural  order  of  change  in 
interests  during  growth,  together  with  some  special  consideration  of 
adolescent  conversions.® 

1.  MacEachen,    Roderick,     The    Teaching    of    Religion.       New    York,     1921;     Religion,     First 
Manual,  New  York,  1921;  (Religion,  First  Course.     New  York.  1920. 

2.  Cf.   the  following:      Doane,  W.   C,   in  Principles  of  Religious  Education   (New  York,    1900). 
32   f. ;   Hodges,   G..  in  same  volume,  79   et  seq. ;   Reu,   M.,   Catechetics   (Chicago,  1918),   ."^OS-.Sir. 

3.  Bradner,    L.,    "An    Experiment    in    Christian    Nurture."      Graded    Sunday-School    Magazine, 
1916,  208   f. 

4.  Vincent,  J.  H.,  The  Modern  Sunday  School.     New  York,  1887,  251. 

5.  Sampey,  J.   R..  The  International  Lesson  System.     Chicago,  1911. 

6.  Burton  and   Mathews.,   The  Pcdaqoqical  Bible  School.      Chicago,   1903; 

Haslett,   S.  B..   The  Pedagogical  Bible  School.     Chicago,  1903; 

Cope.  H.   F..The  Modern   Sunday  School.      Chicago,    1907; 
Efficiency  in  the  Sunday  School.     New  York,  1912; 
Religious  Education  in  the  Church.     New  York,  1918; 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  99 

Within  this  group  there  are,  however,  significant  differences. 
a)  While  several  writers  assume  that  a  curriculum  consists  of  ideational 
material  which,  after  being  learned,  "passes  over''  into  life  by  way  of 
application^  a  few  treat  either  worship  or  social  activities  or  both  as 
primary  educative  experiences,  and  therefore  as  properly  a  part  of  a 
composite  curriculum,  not  an  appendage  or  after-effect.^  b)  The  re- 
ligious living  that  is  made  by  some  a  consequence  of  teaching  curricu- 
lum-material and  by  others  a  part  of  the  curriculum  itself  is  variously 
conceived.  The  most  significant  difference  concerns  the  explicitness 
with  which  a  social  interpretation  is  given  to  religion." 

E — The  Primacy-of -Purpose  Type.  This  jointed  and  jolty  term 
designates  a  mode  of  thinking  that  does  not  conceive  the  curriculum 
as  composed  of  "material"  in  the  sense  of  ready-made  ideas  to  be  trans- 
ferred to  pupils'  minds,  nor  yet  as  a  composite  of  such  ideas  together 
with  worship  and  other  religious  activities,  but  rather  as  pupil-expe- 
riences, specifically  experiences  in  which  intelligent  purposes  arise 
and  mature.  Religion  is  here  conceived  of  as  purposeful  living,  and 
getting  acquainted  with  religion  as  requiring  the  forming  and  executing 
of  religious  purposes  of  one's  very  own.  This  does  not  imply  that 
historical  material  is  unimportant,  but  that  it  should  perform  its  function 
of  assisting  in  the  solution  of  present  problems.  Here,  then,  is  the 
fundamental  conception :  Pupil  experience  of  real  situations ;  of  the 
problems  that  they  involve;  of  real  thinking;  of  making  plans,  carrying 
them  through,  and  judging  the  whole — this  as  the  main  body  of  the  curricu- 
lum. Some  would  call  this  the  project  theory  of  the  curriculum,  but  others 
would  hesitate  to  use  this  terminology  because,  first,  the  definition  of 
"project"  is  still  a  debated  matter,  and  second,  the  relation  of  projects 
to  necessary  drill  is  not  yet  worked  out  in  sufficient  detail. 

Writers  of  this  group  agree,  in  general,  with  those  of  group  D 
where  they  themselves  agree  (see  a,  b,  c,  d).  But  they  tend  to  base 
gradation  somewhat  less  upon  a  supposed  genetic  order  of  interests, 
and  more  upon  the  pupils'  growing  social  contacts.  Finally,  they  give 
a  broadly  social  interpretation  to  religious  living,  and  therefore  favor 
projects  that  touch  human  welfare  at  many  points.^" 


The   School  in  the   Modern   Church.      New  York,    1919. 

Pease,  G.  W.,  Outline  of  a  Bible  School  Curriculum.     Chicago,  1909. 

Hodge,  R.  M.,   "What   Should  be  the  Content  of  a   Sunday-School   Curriculum'"'    Reliaious 

Education,  Vol.  IV,   430-437. 
Meyer,  H.  H.,  The  Graded  Sunday  School.  New  York,  1910. 
Athearn,  W.   S.,   The   Church  School.     Boston,   1914; 
Religious  Education  and  American  Democracy.      Boston,   1917. 
Betts,   G.    H.,   How  to    Teach  Religion.      New   York,   1919. 
Winchester,   B.    S.,    "The   Church-School   Curriculum."      The    Church-School,    II,   Jan.    1921, 

151-153,   and   succeeding   articles  to    Oct.,    1921. 

7.  Burton  and  Mathews,  Haslett,  Pease,  Betts,  possibly  Athearn  (see  Church  School,  p.  7; 
Religious  Education  and  American  Democracy,  page  219,  division  5). 

8.  Hodge,  Meyer,  Cope  (in  the  third  and  fourth  of  the  works  just  named),  Winchester.  But 
see  the  last  footnote  to  this  article. 

9.  Cope  asserts,  and  Winchester  seems  to  assume,  that  social  relations  are  the  sphere  in  which 
worship  and  practical  activities  are  to  move,  and  that  the  problems  to  be  solved  through  study  are 
social  problems. 

10.  Bower,  W.   C.   "The  Reconstruction   of  the   Curriculum."  Religious  Education,  June,   1917, 

231-238. 
Tallman,  L.,  "New  Types  of  Class  Teaching."     Religious  Education,  August,  1917,  271-280. 
Coe,  G.  A.,  A  Social  Theory  of  Religious  Education.     New  \;ork,  1917,  Cf. 
Education  in  Religion  and  Morals.     Chicago,  1904,  Ch.  X. 

Cope,    H.    F.,    "The    Curriculum    of   a    Week-day    School."      The    Church    School,    II,    May, 
1921,  357-359. 

Winchester's  general  statement  is  of  Type  E,  but  in  his  detailed  exposition  he  reverts  to 
type  D,  as  when  he  assumes  the  traditional  position  with  respect  to  the  relation  between 
ideas  and  conduct   (.The   Church  School,  II.  May,  1921,  365). 


Evaluation  of  Curricula  for  Week-Day 

Religious  Education 

Joseph  M.  Artman* 

•  I.    THE  GOAL,  ADEQUATE  LIVING 

Why  all  the  worry  and  effort  about  religious  education,  week-day  curri- 
cula, and  the  evaluation  of  varying  schemes  and  methods  ? 

The  answer  lies  in  the  absolute  necessity  for  better  controlled  conduct. 
The  sciences  have  produced  marvelous  mechanisms,  which  have  so  increased 
the  sphere  and  complexity  of  our  associations  in  material-physical  ways,  and 
with  these  our  methods  of  social  control  have  certainly  not  kept  pace.  We 
are  face  to  face  with  either  developing  adequate  methods  of  control  or  pass- 
ing into  decline  as  races  and  peoples.  The  purpose  of  religious  education 
is  to  create  controls  equal  to,  and,  if  possible,  a  little  ahead  of  the  problems 
of  this  amazingly  ramified,  complex  period  of  human  associations.  Control 
is,  first  of  all,  individual  or  personal.  It  should  develop  in  everyone  so  as 
to  serve  the  good  of  all  peoples  and  races.  The  fact  of  trouble  or  derange- 
ment in  any  part  of  the  earth  today  upsets  every  other  part.  The  develop- 
ment of  social  controls  adequate  to  stabilize  and  enhance  the  neighbor  life 
of  a  world,  with  its  science  and  inventions  ever  increasing,  is  the  task. 

The  problem  is  made  more  difficult  by  the  fact  that  the  personnel  of 
the  participants  in  this  living  is  constantly  changing.  Older  people  are 
dying,  children  are  being  born.  None  of  these  children  come  with  a  scintilla 
of  appreciation  for  dependable  behavior.  It  is  now  evident  to  educational 
science  that  whatever  method  and  scope  of  behavior  each  of  these  new- 
comers shall  utilize  is  acquired  by  him  in  the  process  of  living  itself.  This 
is  a  stupendous  challenge.  It  is  also  a  hope,  in  that  scientific  education  can 
so  stimulate  the  formation  of  the  control  scheme  that  the  children  become 
responsible  agents,  cooperators,  in  building  the  dependable  controls  so 
essential. 

It  is  not  surprising  therefore  that  old  methods  are  being  challenged  and 
new  ones  being  eagerly  sought.  Our  hope  hes  in  this  ferment,  providing  we 
can  honestly  build  on  our  past,  and  seek  to  solve  the  problem  by  producing 
ways  of  stimulating  the  development  of  dependable  social  controls.  The 
evaluation  of  schemes  and  methods,  to  be  honest  with  human  life,  must  be 
on  the  basis  of  achievable  results  in  human  living.  The  fact  that  our  society 
is  in  ferment,  is  dynamic,  and  very  rapidly  shifting  its  forms  of  relationships 
has  already  shown  the  stupidity  of  fixed,  immobile  schemes  of  curricula.  The 
training  in  good  habits,  in  churchism,  in  credal  dogmatics,  in  authoritative 
knowledge,  all  have  failed  adequately  to  develop  folks  as  real  agents  in  the 
developing  relations.  Is  there  any  way  that  is  adequate?  How  can  we  judge 
the  value  of  each  scheme  in  use  or  planned?     Certainly,  unless  something 


♦Professor  Artman,  of  the  Department  of  Religious  Education,  The  Divinity  School  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago,  prepared  this  report,  at  the  request  of  the  Program  Committee  and  as  a  basis,  vtrith 
Professor   Coe's  paper,   of   discussion   at   the   Conference   on    Week-Day    Religious  Education. 


100 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  loi 


better  than  the  habituating  knowledge-giving  schemes  arises  our  social  organi- 
zation will  surely  go  to  pieces. 

II.  THE  SCIENTIFIC  METHOD  AS  A  SCHEME  FOR  EVALUAT- 
ING CURRICULA 

A  number  of  schemes  of  testing  organizations  and  curricula  have  been 
developed,  such  as  that  described  by  Kilpatrick  in  Religious  Education, 
Vol.  14,*  "A  General  View  and  Evaluation  of  Present  Methods  in  Educa- 
tion of  Adolescents  for  Democracy";  Coe,  "Discipline  for  Democracy,"  in 
the  same  journal;  Hartshorne,  "Measurements  of  Growth  in  Religion,"  in 
the  same  journal;  and  others.  These  are  based  on  the  knowledge  given  us 
by  psychology  as  to  the  nature  of  human  growth  and  the  consequent  require- 
ments in  an  educational  scheme.  There  is  no  need  in  this  paper  to  reaffirm 
the  general  results  of  psychology  which  assume :  evolutionary  growth  with  a 
potential  power  for  growth  inherent  in  each  individual ;  the  power  of  environ- 
ment not  only  to  stimulate  activity  but  in  many  respects  to  control  it;  the 
fact  that  social  life, — the  parent,  the  family,  the  neighborhood,  teachers  and 
leaders — are  large  factors  in  this  directing  environment;  and  the  fact  that 
individuals  can  develop  selective  control  over  environment  and  thus  over 
their  activities.  There  are  again  the  facts  developed  by  psychology  as  to  the 
nature  of  thinking,  beginning  in  vital  urges,  instinctive  or  as  desires,  moving 
through  habituating  processes,  through  hindrances  and  reorganization  of  the 
movement  into  revaluations.  And  again  there  are  the  educational  laws  devel- 
oped from  all  these  as  to  learning, — the  necessity  of  purposive  activity,  con- 
trolled by  satisfaction  and  annoyance,  with  the  guidance  of  adults,  the  making 
of  conscious  choices ;  utilizing  of  strong  motives ;  the  developing  of  wider 
active  interest  and  cooperating  and  ever-widening  social  groups  and  the 
study  of  our  social  institutions  themselves,  and  so  forth. 

I  believe  all  of  these  studies  are  conserved  by  the  use  of  the  scientific 
method  as  a  means  of  evaluating  curricula.  Science  is  more  responsible  than 
any  other  thing  for  our  upset  world.  The  science  that  has  made  possible  the 
annihilation  of  space  for  the  human  voice,  for  the  human  eye,  the  annihila- 
tion of  time  in  locomotion  and  travel  and  the  passing  of  information,  the 
control  of  the  necessities  of  life  in  manufacture  and  commerce,  the  control  of 
nature  in  all  of  its  forms,  has  multiplied  our  spheres  of  human  contacts  by 
tens  and  hundreds  and  thousands.*  The  developments  of  science  make 
foolish  the  suggestion  of  training  us  to  be  social  beings.  The  bald  fact  is 
that  we  are  social  beings  immersed  in  such  manifold  relationships  that  we 
become  lost  in  it  all.  We  cannot  escape  science  if  we  will.  It  is  changing 
our  life  everywhere.  It  is  breaking  down  our  old  institutions,  traditions  and 
habits.  With  science  entering  every  department  of  life  there  is  no  choice. 
It  is  a  necessity  that  we  build  new  ways  of  control.  This  is  no  criticism  of 
nor  remonstrance  against  science.  Science  is  here.  It  is  here  to  stay.  It  is 
making  and  will  make  more  amazing  contributions  still.  The  difficulty  is 
that  mankind  is  holding  out  its  hands,  palms  up,  demanding  of  science  more 
material  gifts  in  the  way  of  inventions  and  new  processes,  when  the  method 
of  science,  if  appreciated  and  utilized,  places  within  the  power  of  human  life, 
almost  infinite  possibilities  of  creative,  moral  control.     In  fact,  the  scientific 

*The   three   discussions   mentioned   may  be   found   in   Religious    Education,   Vol.    XIV,    No.    3; 
June,   1919,  at  pages   123-155. 

tSee  article,  "Science   and  Social   Unrest,"  Professor  Groves,  Boston   University. 


102  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

method  is  an  even  greater  gift  than  are  all  of  the  material  processes  which 
science  has  given  to  us.  The  scientific  method  is  the  greatest  discovery  of 
the  century. 

Inasmuch  as  this  paper  is  for  the  purpose  of  arousing  discussion  we  wish 
to  present  this  new  discovery,  the  scientific  method,  as  a  sound  basis  of  evalu- 
ation of  curriculum  making.  In  fact,  an  intelligent  popularization  and  utiliza- 
tion of  the  scientific  method  will  do  more  to  evaluate  our  methods  of  religious 
education  than  any  other  approach  we  can  make. 

Since  the  discovery  of  the  scientific  method,  man  no  longer  waits  for 
chance  discoveries  and  accidental  successes  to  beat  themselves  in  upon  him, 
but,  instead,  by  use  of  the  scientific  method  he  reaches  out  and  literally  pulls 
natural  law  to  himself,  opening  up  new  fields  of  control  almost  at  will.  By 
the  use  of  this  method  man  is  actually  changing  the  nature  of  nature  itself ; 
witness  experiments  closely  controlled  in  the  fields  of  agriculture,  stock 
breeding,  chemistry,  medicine,  engineering.  Education  is  one  of  the  last 
fields  to  realize  the  importance  of  the  scientific  method  and  popular  religious 
education  has  gone  along  practically  unconscious  of  the  greatest  discovery 
of  the  age. 

The  scientific  method  is  very  simple.  (1)  The  individual  or  group  is 
engaged  in  prosecuting  certain  specific  activities  of  adaptation  and  adjust- 
ment. In  the  scientific  method,  whether  in  play,  work,  or  social  life,  the 
efifort  is  always  toward  prosecuting  the  activity  so  as  to  achieve  the  highest 
result  in  the  sense  of  the  best  adjustment  possible.  This  calls  for  constant 
analysis,  revaluation  and  reorganization  of  this  specific  mode  of  response  in 
the  interest  of  fuller  adaptation.  Since  we  are  social  creatures  by  nature 
and  are  born  into  a  maelstrom  of  social  inter-action  and,  since  adequate  con- 
trols of  our  living  together  is  the  goal  of  religious  education,  the  scientific 
method  would  make  the  prosecuting  of  this  living  in  its  manifold  relation- 
ships the  field  for  developing  the  new  controls.  Whether  the  field  of  inter- 
action is  real  or  whether  it  is  imagined,  it  is  the  actual  working  out  of  the 
process  that  is  essential  for  religious  education. 

(2)  As  an  aid  in  enhancing  the  quality  and  scope  for  the  specific 
process  of  adjustments,  the  laws  or  principles,  both  from  individual  or  racial 
experiences,  that  can  be  found  to  help  in  any  way  are  eagerly  brought  to 
bear  on  the  situation.  This  requires  the  noting,  analysis,  organization  and 
evaluation  of  both  personal  and  racial  experiences  in  the  efifort  to  give  help  in 
the  active  process.  The  whole  range  of  human  experience,  in  any  way 
applicable  to  the  task  in  hand,  is  canvassed,  the  data  systematized  and  evalu- 
ated so  that  the  operating  principles  appear.  So  valuable  are  these  laws,  by 
the  use  of  which  man  has  gained  such  marvelous  control,  that  many  students 
spend  most  of  their  time  in  discovering  the  law,  leaving  to  others  the  applica- 
tion in  specific  need.  The  immediate  actor,  however,  never  does  best  as  an 
actor  without  due  appreciation  of  the  process  itself. 

(3)  The  third  factor  within  the  scientific  method  is  the  persistent 
search  for  better  ways,  more  fundamental  principles.  The  prosecution  of  the 
task  successfully  is  not  the  end  in  the  scientific  method.  There  is  the  feeling 
that  while  certain  success  is  attained  yet  there  are  more  factors,  perhaps  hid- 
den, that,  if  they  can  be  found,  will  help  still  further  to  develop  the  ade- 
quacy of  response.  The  persistent  search  for  new  factors,  together  with  the 
re-analysis  and  re-interpretation  of  factors  in  hand,  is  an  essential  to  keeping 
the  mind  mobile  and  in  readiness  for  better  ways  should  they  be  discoverable. 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  103 


This  persistent  attitude  of  the  scientific  method  makes  it  impossible  for 
habits,  customs  and  principles  to  fix  themselves  as  immovable  factors  in  con- 
trol. Habits,  customs,  and  principles  are  factors  in  a  growing  adjustmeni 
to  be  used  until  better  ways  appear,  while  active  effort  is  being  put  forth  to 
discover  these  better  ways.  If  life  is  to  develop  controls  equal  to  material 
inventions  and  equal  to  the  demands  of  a  democracy  of  living,  this  spirit  of 
advancing  the  cause  by  finding  more  secure  means  of  control  is  an  essential 
in  all  individuals  and  groups.  Good  religious  education  will,  therefore,  pro- 
vide constant  practice  in  advancing  the  method  itself  of  social  control.  This 
opens  the  way  for  studying  all  the  schemes  and  methods  of  the  race,  at  all 
applicable  to  our  social  living.  The  method  of  Jesus,  of  Paul,  of  Moses,  of 
Mahomet,  all  methods  everywhere,  are  studied,  with  open  mands,  with  de- 
cisions to  utilize  any  part  according  to  its  usability  or  helpfulness  in  the 
present  and  impending  social  tasks. 

(4)  The  utter  devotion  to  truth.  The  prosecution  of  one's  life  ac- 
cording to  the  scientific  method  means  the  active  interest  in  that  life  with  the 
insistence  on  living  it  according  to  the  facts.  Devotion  to  truth  in  the  scien- 
tific method  is  not  blind  allegiance  to  a  form,  or  custom,  or  idea  of  the  past ; 
but  rather  the  determination  tO'  live  according  to  present  or  discoverable 
facts  and  laws  involved,  for  these  alone  promise  successful  adjustment. 
Any  failure  to  live  by  fact  is  merely  to  invite  defeat,  since  law  is  inexorable. 
If  the  facts  in  hand  fail  to  gain  the  essential  adjustments  it  is  simple  evidence 
of  not  yet  discovering  the  fundamental  laws  involved.  Truth,  facts,  are 
discoverable  if  sufficient  persistence  is  shown.  The  determination  to  dis- 
cover the  facts,  both  those  already  known  to  the  race  and  those  not  yet 
apparent,  with  the  insistence  on  living  by  these  facts  when  discovered,  is 
what  we  here  mean  by  devotion  to  truth. 

Questions  will  at  once  arise  as  to  where  Biblical  instruction,  worship, 
and  play  would  enter  into  such  a  scheme.  By  way  of  summary  to  the  points 
above,  let  us  say  briefly: 

(A)  Concrete  living  means  all  the  relations  of  life.  These  involve 
play,  leisure,  work,  school,  associations  of  every  kind,  in  fact  every  act  of 
every  day  as  well  as  acts  of  every  day  one  should  be  engaged  in.  It  is  pos- 
sible for  one  to  be  dodging  the  real  issues.  This  would  mean  the  curriculum 
is  based  on  the  fundamental  interests  and  cogent  issues  of  associated  living. 

(B)  How  wide  should  be  the  search  for  racial  experience  mentioned  in 
(2)  above?  As  wide  as  the  local  situation  allows;  if  possible,  as  wide  as 
man.  There  are  nine  great  Bibles,  all  of  which  deal  with  ways  of  living. 
There  are  wonderful  suggestions  in  literature,  histories,  arts,  sciences,  skills. 
Life  is  the  better  the  more  perspective  it  has  for  its  judgments. 

(C)  Could  a  curriculum  expect  all  to  be  investigators,  searchers  for 
better  ways  (point  3  above)  ?  Perhaps  the  majority  at  present  do  not 
seek  to  create.  Every  child  can  have  this  expectancy,  at  least  to  the  extent 
of  rejoicing  when  another  advances  the  method.  Many  now  have  developed 
the  active  expectancy  of  resisting  change ;  it  would  seem  as  easy  to  develop 
the  active  hope  for  change. 

(D)  The  greatest  contribution  religious  education  can  make  to  moral 
and  religious  living  is  that  of  insisting  on  facts  before  action.  Action  from 
prejudice,  or  habit,  or  even  principle  is  either  unmoral  or  immoral.  Only 
when  the  agent  realizes  that  religion  is  present  living  of  a  kind,  the  kind  in 
which  one  performs  each  act  of  life  in  the  presence  of  the  God  of  truth  who 


104  W«EK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

insists  on  all  the  facts  and  who  insists  on  living  tn^e  to  the  facts,  present  or 
discoverable,  is  he  living  the  religiously  controlled  life.  In  a  scientific  age 
the  God  of  Love  is  the  God  of  Truth  in  terms  of  all  the  facts  involved.  The 
stern  discipline  of  the  scientific  method  is  our  greatest  hope  in  this  day  of 
ever-present  science. 

III.    EVALUATION 

The  survey  of  week-day  schools*  shows  uncertainty  and  hesitancy  as 
to  curriculum.  Most  workers  feel  a  new  type  of  approach  is  imminent.  If 
the  scientific  method  is  a  sound  mode  of  evaluation  the  reason  for  this  unrest 
is  evident.  The  method  of  science,  while  not  recognized  by  most  workers, 
is  yet  in  the  very  air  and  challenging  all  superficial  approaches. 

The  following  courses  are  followed  by  week-day  schools:  Bible,  Gary 
Leaflets,  Abingdon  Weekday  Series,  Scribners',  University  of  Chicago, 
Westminster,  Keystone,  Lutheran,  Christian  Nurture,  Roman  Catholic 
Catechism,  other  Sunday-school  literature,  Protestant  Teachers'  Association, 
Graded  Bible  Stories  (Mutch),  Toledo  Course  (Trettien),  Lansing  Syllabus, 
Oklahoma  City  Syllabus. 

All  those  using  the  Bible  as  the  text,  either  as  literature  or  for  pur- 
poses of  dogmatic  doctrinal  teaching  miss  entirely  the  scientific  method. 
The  only  foundation  for  a  course  in  reHgious  education  is  life  itself  in 
process  of  building  an  adequate  mode  of  control.  All  are  engaged  in  asso- 
ciated living.  There  can  be  no  action  outside  of  the  social  field.  At  least 
all  action  is  ultimately  social.  Social  life  is  the  only  life  we  live.  In  place  of 
laboriously  working  on  social  Hfe  we  should  assume  it  with  never  a  shadow 
of  suspicion  that  one  is  ever  to  participate  in  any  other.  The  building  of 
this  natural  social  life  into  the  kinds  of  control  adequate  for  the  problems 
and  relationships  essential  for  our  day  is  the  task  of  and  furnishes  the  foun- 
dation for  curricula  in  religious  education.  We  will  take  up  the  various 
courses  of  study  in  the  order  named  above,  evaluating  them  according  to 
the  four  questions  presented  by  the  scientific  method. 

1.  The  Gary  Leaflets  aim  to  teach  the  Bible  as  such  with  the  evident 
feeling  that  Biblical  knowledge  constitutes  religious  education.  The  expres- 
sional  work  in  the  form  of  handwork  with  only  occasional  suggestions  of 
real  service  show  how  far  this  scheme  fails  to  make  actual  life  the  center 
and  reason  of  the  curriculum.  It  is  intellectual  in  approach  with  memory 
tests  following  each  lesson  and  including  mostly  Biblical  passages  with 
certain  hymns  and  psalms.  Even  this  intellectual  approach  to  the  Bible  is 
edited  as  though  immature  teachers  are  expected  to  teach  it.  The  stories 
are  not  very  well  told  and  only  a  very  few  stories  outside  of  the  Bible  are 
used  and  not  at  all  in  the  sense  of  surveying  human  experiences  for  data  on 
actual  problems.  There  is  no  evidence  that  the  scientific  method  as  such 
is  even  recognized. 

2.  Abingdon  Weekday  Series.  This  series  is  worthy  of  attention  as  a 
serious  attempt  to  provide  material  for  conduct  control.  It  cannot  be  said, 
however,  that  the  scientific  procedure  in  the  building  of  adequate  social 
living  is  the  central  factor  in  this  series.  It  does  recognize  that  conduct 
control  is  the  goal  of  religious  education  but,  instead  of  working  directly 
on  conduct,  it  presents  Biblical  material,  stories  from  extra-biblical  sources, 
the  work  and  task  of  the  church  with  a  presentation  of  characters  to  bring 
out  the  strong  moral  factors  which  made  their  lives  worth  while. 


•Report  of  Survey  in  this  magazine,  by  Professor  E.   L.  Shaver. 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION    ,  105 


The  books  are  all  well  bound  with  good  print,  splendid  illustrations  and 
are  comparable  to  any  school  books.  Several  of  the  courses  are  worthy 
of  special  mention.  The  courses  for  kindergarten  and  primary  children, 
while  not  based  upon  life  itself  and  certainly  not  upon  the  discoveries  of 
the  data  which  life  provides  for  living  and  the  experimenting  for  the  devel- 
opment of  future  control,  do  provide  many  suggestions  for  living  in  the 
home,  with  little  friends,  with  the  nature  world  and  with  people  in  general, 
with  poems  and  songs  and  prayers  that  embody  these  suggestions. 

The  two  books,  "Hebrew  Life  and  Times"  and  "Life  and  Times  of 
Jesus,"  are  especially  strong  when  considered  from  the  view  of  question  2 
above.  They  are  not  presented  as  studies  in  conduct  control  but  do  provide 
splendid  source  material.  They  present  the  life  of  the  Hebrew  people  and 
the  life  of  Jesus  among  the  natural  habitat,  customs  and  procedures  of  the 
times.  The  treatment  is  factual,  with  no  emphasis  upon  religiosity  what- 
soever, and  with  questions  asking  the  student  to  make  further  comparisons 
from  other  stories,  references  to  which  are  given.  These  two  books  form  a 
very  wholesome  coloring  of  the  customs  and  efforts  of  the  times  in  the  devel- 
oping of  a  controlled  Hfe.  In  the  "Hebrew  Life  and  Times,"  Jesus  is  pre- 
sented as  one  who  enhanced  the  method  of  control  produced  to  date  by  the 
Hebrew  people. 

While  the  course  cannot  be  said  to  be  scientific  in  the  sense  of  follow- 
ing the  scientific  method  itself,  it  does  provide  very  usable  auxiliary  material. 

3.  Scribner's  Series.  Ages  six,  seven  and  eight,  "God  the  Loving 
Father  and  His  Children,"  "God's  Loyal  Children  Learning  to  Live  Hap- 
pily Together,"  "Jesus'  Way  of  Love  and  Service,"  attempt  by  the  use  of 
stories  to  teach  the  child  how  to  be  a  Christian  in  his  own  world.  The  fact, 
however,  that  expressional  work  consists  in  the  coloring  of  outline  pictures 
illustrating  the  lesson  stories  clearly  indicates  that  the  intellectual  content  of 
the  lesson  is  the  thing  sought.  Here  again,  while  there  is  much  suggestion  for 
conduct,  the  study  of  the  conduct  of  the  child  itself  is  not  made.  However, 
much  appreciation  of  conduct  may  be  brought  about  in  an  indirect  way  by  the 
use  of  these  stories  is  perfectly  evident.  The  efifort  of  the  writers  has  been 
to  adapt  the  material  to  the  pupils  and  to  carry  over  Sunday-school  im- 
pressions into  week-day  conduct.  The  week-day  conduct  is  itself,  however, 
not  the  basis  of  the  curricula.  The  material  lends  itself  in  a  remarkable 
way  for  use  in  a  scientific  method  of  developing  controlled  conduct  but 
would  have  to  be  transposed  somewhat  to  this  end. 

"The  Junior  Bible,"  for  ages  nine,  ten  and  eleven,  is  strictly  a  presenta- 
tion of  the  Bible  and  in  a  way  not  exceptionally  attractive  to  children. 

"Witnesses  for  Christ,"  a  study  of  what  it  meant  to  be  a  Christian  in 
the  early  centuries,  afi^ords  fine  interpretative  material  for  the  discovering 
of  data  for  conduct  control  of  the  early  centuries.  This  again  is  not  based 
upon  the  life  the  child  is  now  living. 

"The  Heroes  of  the  Faith,"  a  course  of  forty-eight  lessons  for  inter- 
mediate pupils,  is  a  study  of  brief  biographies  giving  sketches  of  "heroes 
and  grandly  religious  characters,  hoping  to  kindle  in  the  pupil  the  spirit  by 
which  these  men  and  women  were  animated  and  encourage  its  expression 
in  similar  virtues  and  deeds."  As  brief  biographies  the  work  is  certaintly 
a  success  and  is  adapted  to  the  four  questions  asked  above.  The  course, 
however,  does  not  approach  the  actual  life  problems  of  the  boy  or  girl  of  the 
age  of  thirteen,  but  leaves  these  heroic  stories  to  find  their  own  vantage 


106  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

point  in  the  lives  of  the  children.     The  teacher  could  use  this  book  in  a 
splendid  way  for  such  an  approach. 

"Christian  Life  and  Conduct,"  a  nine  months'  course  of  study  for  the 
age  of  fourteen,  is  an  "analysis  of  the  particular  Biblical  rules  and  principles 
which  all  Christians  should  undertake  to  follow."  This  statement  by  the 
editors  is  sufficient  to  show  the  variance  of  this  book  from  the  four  questions 
above.  The  work  is  based  primarily  on  the  Bible,  giving  the  human  experi- 
ences from  the  history  of  Israel  and  the  life  of  Jesus,  leaving  the  boys  and 
girls  to  be  inspired  to  solve  their  own  moral  and  religious  problems.  The 
emphasis  is  not  placed  upon  the  solving  of  these  problems  with  this  course 
as  a  help,  but  the  other  way  around. 

"The  Historical  Geography  of  Bible  'Lands,"  "The  Stories  of  Our 
Bible"  and  "The  Life  of  Jesus"  all  may  be  criticised  because  of  the  knowl- 
edge approach  with  conduct  secondary. 

The  course  on  "Young  People's  Problems  as  Interpreted  by  Jesus"  dis- 
cusses religion  itself  with  certain  of  the  lessons  taking  up  questions  of  the 
personal  religious  life.  These,  however,  are  not  the  actual  problems  found 
in  the  lives  of  the  young  people  nor  the  actual  problems  of  the  day  and  hour 
but  are  what  may  be  thought  of  as  religious  problems,  such  as  gaining  and 
keeping  spiritual  strength  by  communion  with  God,  preparing  the  heart  for 
disappointment  and  sorrow.  While  much  emphasis  is  placed  upon  the  world 
of  service,  it  does  not  approach  this  in  a  concrete  way.  The  specific  search- 
ing for  data  throughout  Hfe  and  the  attempt  to  actually  advance  upon  our 
methods  of  social  control  with  devotion  to  the  facts  at  hand  or  discoverable 
are  not  found  in  this  course. 

There  are  other  courses  for  the  older  pupils  which  would  hardly  be 
applicable  to  the  week-day  religious  instruction. 

4.  The  University  of  Chicago  series  of  text  books  is  based  almost  en- 
tirely on  the  presentation  of  Biblical  knowledge  from  the  historical  point  of 
view.  From  this  point  of  view  the  books  are  excellent  with  splendid  bind- 
ing, printing,  etc.,  but  they  certainly  do  not  meet  the  four  tests  given  above, 
with  the  exception  of  one  or  two  of  the  volumes.  Johnson's  "Problems  of 
Boyhood,"  prepared  for  the  early  high-school  age,  does  take  up  actual 
problems  of  the  daily  life  of  the  boys  with  whom  the  lessons  were  worked 
out.  That  these  problems  will  be  the  cogent  situations  of  high-school  pupils 
everywhere  is  a  question,  and  yet  the  m.ethod  is  very  suggestive  and  the  book 
is  usable.  Practically  all  of  the  other  books  in  the  series,  whether  the 
"Sunday  Kindergarten:  Game,  Gift  and  Story,"  "Child  Religion  in  Song 
and  Story,"  "Introduction  to  the  Bible  for  Teachers  of  Children,"  "The  Life 
of  Jesus,"  "Heroes  of  Israel,"  "Old  Testament  Stories,"  "Paul  of  Tarsus," 
"Studies  in  the  Gospel  of  Mark,"  "Studies  in  the  First  Book  of  Samuel," 
or  the  "Life  of  Christ,"  all  are  historically  biblical  in  viewpoint.  The  books 
for  kindergarten  and  primary  contain  songs  and  texts  of  scripture  set  to 
music,  carefully  arranged  orders  of  service  for  each  Sunday,  stories  and 
directions  for  story  building,  and  so  on,  but  all  arranged  around  certain 
ethical  and  religious  ideas.  The  point  of  view  of  the  four  questions  above 
is  entirely  missing.  The  aim  is  to  teach  knowledge  which  is  considered 
essential  to  religious  living.  The  series  does  not  provide  for  the  knowledge 
to  come  as  needed  around  the  crises  of  an  advancing  life. 

The  same  thing  can  be  said  of  all  the  books  in  the  series.  As  source 
material  for  point  2  above  these  books  are  admirable. 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  107 

5.  The  Westminster  Scries  is  a  correlation  of  the  graded  lessons  of 
the  regular  Sunday  school.  Its  aim  is  to  present  Biblical  knowledge  so  it 
will  make  its  impact  on  the  life  of  the  learner.  There  is  no  attempt  what- 
soever to  study  the  actual  task  of  living,  to  interpret  this  task  from  the  wide 
field  of  human  experience,  and  certainly  not  to  promote  experiments  in  the 
discovery  of  new  facts  and  new  ways  of  control.  It  is  entirely  lacking  in 
the  scienitfic  method. 

6.  The  Keystone  Series  is  a  development  of  the  International  Graded 
Lessons  with  all  the  faults  that  go  with  that  series.  There  is  no  recognition 
of  the  scientific  method  of  approach  to  human  life  itself.  No  one  of  the 
fourth  questions  asked  above  is  met  in  this  scries. 

7.  The  Lutheran  Series  is  made  up  of  Biblical  knowledge  and  church 
catechetics  for  the  purpose  of  binding  the  youth  into  Christian  or  perhaps 
church  living.  It  does  not  allow  for  a  scientific  look  at  life,  for  interpreta- 
tion from  the  broad  fields  of  human  experience,  nor  for  the  discovery  of  new 
truth  not  yet  developed  by  man. 

8.  The  Roman  Catholic  Catechisiw  is,  of  course,  frankly  a  method  of 
habituation  in  the  Roman-Church  scheme.  There  is  nothing  in  it  in  common 
with  the  scientific  method. 

9.  The  method  of  approach  of  the  Protestant  Teachers'  Association  of 
Brooklyn,  so  far  as  we  can  learn,  is  that  of  Biblical  knowledge  and  that  of  a 
rather  narrow,  evangelical  nature.  Here  again  the  scientific  method  of 
approach  is  wholly  lacking. 

10.  "Graded  Bible  Stories,"  by  Mutch  is  an  edited  and  selected  series 
of  the  stories  of  the  Bible  for  each  grade  from  the  kindergarten  on.  It 
makes  the  materials  of  the  Bible  usable,  but  does  not  suggest  the  scientific 
approach  to  human  life. 

11.  The  Lansing  Syllabus  and  Oklahoma  City  Syllabus  are  both  based 
on  the  Biblical  knowledge  process  or  the  Bible  as  literature. 

In  the  whole  range  of  available  text  books  for  week-day  religious  edu- 
cation there  is  not  a  single  series  that  has  yet  seen  the  problem  from  a 
scientific  standpoint.  When  one  approaches  the  building  of  a  bridge,  he 
first  considers  the  actual  situation  with  its  conditions  and  problems.  He 
seeks  to  discover  what  the  bridge  is  for.  He  utilizes  the  discoveries  of 
science  and  organizes  the  conditions  and  materials  with  this  science  for  the 
building  of  the  bridge.  A  good  bridge-builder  is  ever  seeking  to  enhance  the 
quality  of  bridge-building  and  therefore  seeking  to  discover  new  methods 
and  new  ways.  Furthermore,  the  good  bridge-builder  will  insist  upon  using 
the  facts  discovered  and  discoverable  in  the  carrying  out  of  his  business. 

It  seems  that  the  time  has  come  for  the  leaders  in  religious  education  to 
frankly  face  the  creating  of  a  method  by  the  use  of  which  human  life  will 
achieve  controls  adequate  for  the  relationships  of  our  day.  The  scientific 
method  provides  a  scheme  or  method  for  such  an  accomplishment ;  for,  after 
all,  curriculum  is  much  more  method  than  anything  else.  We  have  been 
laboring  all  the  time  to  build  content,  thinking  that  content  would  make 
curriculum,  when,  after  all,  the  whole  of  life  is  content.  It  is  impossible  to 
escape  content  and  what  life  needs  is  a  method  that  will  give  it  more 
adequate  control  in  the  contents  that  it  already  has.  It  is  impossible  for  one 
to  turn  around  without  turning  into  relationships  of  one  kind  or  another. 
At  the  present  moment  everyone  of  us  is  feeling  his  life  crushed  and  dis- 
torted by  the  monster  war  and  up  to  the  present  time  we  have  been  utterly 


108  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

unable  to  supply  a  method  of  human  relationships  that  removes  war  as  a 
way  of  settling  disputes.  Likewise,  in  our  relationships  as  nations  and 
races — in  which  each  and  all  of  us  act  every  day  of  our  lives — we  have  not 
yet  built  up  a  method  that  insures  control  adequate  to  the  needs  of  man. 
In  the  struggle  between  capital  and  labor,  involving  all,  is  again  a  field  in 
which  we  have  so  far  failed  to  develop  a  method  by  which  mankind  controls 
in  a  way  fair  to  all. 

Is  it  not  time,  therefore,  that  we  approach  the  problem  directly,  that 
we  seek  to  develop  out  of  the  process  of  life  itself  its  own  control?  It  is 
life  itself,  with  the  enhancem.ent  of  scientific  inventions,  that  is  creating 
■most  of  the  problems  requiring  control.  Life  itself,  by  the  use  of  the 
scientific  method,  can  and  must  build  up  the  system  of  control. 

The  best  curriculum  or  scheme  for  scientifically  approaching  the  devel- 
opment of  controls  for  human  Hfe  has  not  yet  been  utilized  or  apparently 
thought  of  in  the  search  for  curricula  for  week-day  religious  instruction. 
If  we  take  the  four  points  mentioned  above  as  our  scheme  of  testing,  the 
Canadian  Standard  Efficiency  Training  Program  comes  nearest  to  measuring 
up  of  any  method  now  in  use.  Its  companion,  the  American  Christian 
Citizenship  Training  Program,  is  perhaps  of  equal  merit,  but  it  is  not  sup- 
ported by  the  united  churches  as  is  the  Canadian  program. 

(1)  It  does  base  its  program  on  actual  living  as  a  Canadian  citizen  in 
a  Canadian  community  and  in  the  local  groupings.  It  recognizes  the  funda- 
mental interests  in  which  we  live  our  social  relations.  Play  and  leisure  time 
are  much  emphasized  and  strong  programs  for  guiding  them  are  provided. 
It  recognizes  the  school  and  not  merely  supplements  it,  but  evaluates  it  and 
makes  it  a  part  of  its  program.  It  recognizes  the  home  and  community 
relations  and  draws  these  in  as  a  part  of  its  program.  It  recognizes  the  arts, 
the  sciences,  and  literatures  to  quite  an  extent,  as  any  study  of  the  many 
constructive  things  suggested  for  the  boy  to  do,  as  a  part  of  his  program  of 
development,  will  show.  It  recognizes  the  church  as  a  normal  community 
unit  and  stresses  normal  participation  in  church-life  with  both  study  and 
devotion  as  a  part  of  the  program. 

(2)  Does  it  provide  for  the  gathering  of  data  from,  individual  and 
racial  experience  ?  It  does  so  provide  in  the  regions  of  play,  work,  vocations, 
social  life,  arts  and  sciences,  nature  study  and  so  forth.  It  does  not  have  the 
largest  view  of  the  realms  from  which  data  can  be  obtained.  For  example, 
there  are  nine  great  Bibles  in  the  world  and  it  draws  upon  one  only.  But  the 
fact  that  it  does  look  upon  Bible-study  as  a  realm  from  which  suggestions 
can  be  obtained  for  the  living  of  this  life  is  a  point  of  very  great  merit  for 
the  program.  Should  it  broaden  its  range  of  vision  in  social  study  and 
social  methods  and  look  into  the  literatures,  histories,  arts  and  sciences 
deeper  for  the  purpose  of  getting  method  it  would  measure  up  much  better. 

3.  Does  it  provide  for  experimentation  and  discovery  of  even  more 
adequate  methods  than  the  individual  or  race  has  yet  obtained?  The  pro- 
gram does  not  seem  to  be  conscious  here  of  this  as  a  worthy  attitude,  al- 
though it  is  such  that  this  very  well  could  be  incorporated  and  made  a  part 
of  it. 

4.  Does  it  provide  for  the  devotion  of  dynamic  truth?  To  a  consider- 
able extent.  Yes,  but  on  the  whole.  No.  Truth  is  still  recognized  as  some- 
thing that  is,  that  has  been  handed  down.  In  other  words,  truth  is  recog- 
nized as  something  formal  rather  than  dynamic  and  creative.    The  devotion 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  109 

to  the  advance  of  truth  and  the  utter  determination  to  Hve  by  the  new  truth 
when  found  is  not  the  spirit  of  the  program. 

However,  the  fact  that  this  program  notes  that  life  is  growth ;  that  life 
is  concerned  with  the  prosecution  of  activity  in  concrete  situations;  that 
the  rounding  out  of  this  life  in  all  its  phases — presented  by  the  program  as 
physical,  mental,  social,  and  devotional — is  desirable,  makes  it  the  one 
program  that  in  any  way  approaches  the  situation  at  all. 

What  has  been  said  of  the  above  is  applicable  to  the  American  program 
as  developed  according  to  the  American  situation. 

The  Boy  Scouts  have  a  program  that,  when  evaluated  by  these  four 
points,  stands  out  strongly  as  a  curriculum  for  religious  education.  In 
answer  to  point  (1)  it  does  recognize  that  life  is  in  the  concrete  and  is  the 
prosecution  of  a  series  of  activities.  The  breadth  of  activity  conceived  by 
the  Boy  Scouts  is,  however,  decidedly  narrow.  In  the  first  place,  the  pro- 
gram is  avowedly  a  leisure  time-program  and  not  for  the  evaluation  and 
motivation  of  the  whole  life.  It  has  the  merit,  however,  of  noting  the  im- 
portance of  the  leisure  time  which  many  other  methods  do  not  touch  at  all. 
While  it  puts  emphasis  upon  activities  related  to  the  home  and  community 
life,  it  does  not  lead  the  student  to  evaluate  these  so  as  to  appreciate  their 
meaning  and  the  meaning  of  social  life  itself.  It  is  more  a  program  of  specific 
activity  in  social  life  without  a  strong  interpretation  thereof.  Moreover, 
eighty  per  cent  of  these  activities  are  physical  or  technical  in  nature.  It 
does  not  appreciate  the  tremendous  region  of  activities  within  social  life 
itself.  It  attempts  merely  to  supplement  the  school  and  not  to  evaluate  it. 
Similarly,  it  recognizes  the  church  and  reverence  to  God,  but  it  does  not 
make  this  a  crucial  portion  of  its  own  responsibility. 

(2)  It  provides  for  a  great  amount  of  investigation  and  application  of 
data  so  far  as  the  mechanical  arts  and  sciences  are  concerned.  It  is  quite 
weak  in  bringing  in  data  as  to  social  method. 

(3)  It  provides  strong  stimulus  in  the  discovery  of  new  truth  so  far 
as  mechanical  arts  are  concerned  but  seems  to  miss  entirely  the  discovery  of 
new  methods  of  social  living. 

Point  (4)  is  heavily  stressed  by  the  program  from  the  formal  stand- 
point. A  scout  is  on  his  honor,  reverent,  kind,  etc.  So  far  as  these  formal, 
moral  standards  are  concerned,  its  insistence  on  living  is  very  strong.  It 
fails  to  recognize,  however,  the  necessity  for  dynamic  truth  yet  to  be  dis- 
covered which  may  change  the  entire  method  of  social  living. 

There  are  other  methods ;  for  example,  the  Four-fold  Scheme  now  being 
worked  by  the  Secondary  Division  of  the  Sunday  School  Association  as  well 
as  certain  church  schemes  of  the  Episcopal  and  Methodist  churches.  These 
are  similar  to  the  two  organizations  just  mentioned,  and  have  merit  as  ap- 
proaches to  real  interests  and  cogent  problems. 

It  would  seem  that  the  method  which  the  Canadian  Council  of  Religious 
Education  has  developed  contains  the  most  hope  for  a  genuine  scheme  of 
religious  education.  (1)  Such  a  scheme  for  week-day  religious  instruction 
would  recognize  the  totality  of  life-processes  as  the  primary  element  in  the 
curriculum.  It  would  base  its  study  on  the  developing  of  method  for  the 
living  of  this  life.  It  would  therefore  recognize  all  of  the  fundamental  inter- 
ests in  which  children  engage  in  any  age  or  grade  and  provide  a  method  for 
evaluating-  these.  This,  of  course,  would  include  the  home,  all  that  the 
school  does,  all  the  leisure  time,  in  fact,  the  major  activities  of  the  child. 


no  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

(2)  It  will  provide  for  bringing  the  experiences  of  the  race  to  bear 
upon  the  activities  the  child  is  prosecuting.  This  field  should  be  sufficiently- 
large  as  to  cause  the  child  to  realize  that  only  small  amounts  of  race  heritage, 
so  far  as  class  time  is  concerned,  can  be  noted,  so  that  the  child  on  his  own 
account  may  draw  upon  other  sources.  It  would  seem  wise  to  utilize  all 
the  great  Bibles,  all  literatures,  all  histories,  the  arts  and  sciences — because 
science  certainly  has  given  us  great  helps  in  living.  The  present  courses 
of  study,  such  as  the  Abingdon,  certain  books  in  the  Scribner  and  University 
of  Chicago  series  make  admirable  source  books  for  such  a  curriculum,  in 
matters  of  effort  to  buld  up  religious  control. 

(3)  Certainly  more  definite  provision  for  the  study  of  methods  of  liv- 
ing, so  as  to  discover  and  advance  larger  ways  of  control  than  have  been  yet 
achieved,  is  an  essential  if  our  curricula  of  week-day  instruction  are  to 
have  genuine  merit. 

(4)  The  determination  to  live  by  truth  attained  and  discoverable  cer- 
tainly provides  for  the  element  of  faith,  of  devotion  and  of  worship.  Here 
the  God  of  Truth  attains  real  majesty. 


Worship  in  the  Week-Day  School 

Hugh  Hartshorne* 

This  brief  statement  can  do  no  more  than  suggest  certain  outstanding 
problems.  For  a  more  complete  discussion  of  worship  in  connection 
with  week-day  religious  instruction  the  reader  is  referred  to  my  article 
of  this  title  in  Religious  Education  for  October,  1916,  XI,  5,  p.  419. 

First,  it  is  necessary  to  distinguish  between  worship  and  instruction 
in  the  materials  and  practice  of  worship.  The  v^eek-day  school  will 
ordinarily  include  both.     Let  us  consider  the  former. 

Just  what  place  will  worship  as  an  experience  have  in  the  week-day 
school?  What  practical  problems  of  the  pupils'  lives  can  well  be 
to  make  the  worship  contribute  directly  to  the  value  of  the  week-day 
session  itself? 

If  the  devotions  are  to  help  in  establishing  a  mental  set  by  which 
the  minds  of  the  pupils  will  be  more  effectively  employed  during  the 
remainder  of  the  session,  what  will  be  the  subject  matter  of  the  opening 
service?  How  long  a  time  should  be  devoted  to  it?  Should  it  be 
informal  and  spontaneous,  or  planned?  If  planned,  by  whom,  the  teacher 
or  the  pupils?  If  the  devotions  are  to  help  in  relating  the  work  done 
to  out-of-school  interests,  then  the  closing  service  will  need  to  be 
planned  with  this  end  in  view.  Which  is  more  appropriate  here,  in- 
formal or  formal  worship?  Prayers  prepared  by  the  children  for  their 
use  in  unison,  or  individual  prayers  of  teacher  or  pupils,  or  classic 
prayers? 

To  what  extent  should  we  try  to  have  worship  contribute  to  the 
whole    world    of    experience    that   lies    entirely    outside    the    week-day 

*This  paper  was  prepared,  at  the  request  of  the  Program  Committee,  as  a  part  of  the  basic 
material  for  the  Conference,  by  Professor  Hugh  Hartshorne,  Ph.D.,  of  Union  Theological 
Seminary. 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  ill 


school?  What  practical  problems  of  the  pupils'  lives  can  well  be 
brought  into  this  experience?  What  community  and  world  problems, 
such  as  health  and  disarmament,  should  be  made  the  subject  matter  of 
worship?  How  can  the  imaginary  human  fellowships  of  worship — the 
sense  of  our  oneness  with  all  mankind — be  made  to  contribute  to  better 
feeling  between  different  social  groups,  different  nations,  different  races? 

Supposedly,  we  want  the  week-day  session  to  fill  a  real  need  in  the 
lives  of  the  pupils.  This  implies  a  careful  study  of  their  other  religious 
and  educational  experiences  to  determine  just  where  the  weak  spots  are. 
Such  a  study  would  enable  us  to  decide  the  types  of  worship  that 
should  be  emphasized  in  the  week-day  school.  In  some  cases,  we 
should  need  to  give  our  attention  to  the  experience  of  private  prayer. 
Just  what  sort  of  worship  will  best  illuminate  the  individual's  own 
devotional  life?  We  might  venture  a  guess  that  informal  worship, 
largely  participated  in  by  the  pupils  themselves  and  containing  a  wide 
variety  of  interests,  both  personal  and  social,  would  be  of  most  help 
here.  Again,  the  need  might  be  for  training  in  common  worship  such 
as  is  practiced  in  church  services.  In  this  case,  probably  most  help 
would  be  derived  by  making  the  week-day  service  much  like  the  church 
service  in  form;  only  providing  such  content  as  will  mediate  and  ex- 
press the  children's  own  religious  aspiration. 

After  we  have  decided  upon  the  immediate  objectives  of  the  worship 
and  its  major  content  and  form,  there  remain  still  the  following  prob- 
lems: The  selection  of  material,  and  leadership. 

Just  what  hymns  should  be  used,  and  what  is  the  best  book  for 
this  particular  school?  Granted  a  body  of  hymns,  how  should  the  ones 
to  be  used  on  any  day  be  chosen?  By  the  leader?  By  pupils? 
In  advance?  In  relation  to  the  development  of  the  service  itself — that 
is,  not  in  advance,  but  in  response  to  needs  as  they  arise? 

So  in  like  manner,  the  psalms,  scripture  and  any  other  material. 

Whether  teacher  or  pupil  should  lead,  or  whether  leadership  should 
be  by  an  individual  or  a  group,  depends  on  what  is  to  be  accomplished. 
We  would  not  shoot  wide  of  the  mark  in  suggesting  this  principle: 
Let  responsibility  and  participation  both  be  shared  by  the  pupils  as 
much  and  as  rapidly  as  their  growth  in  the  experience  of  worship  and 
in  their  power  of  controlled  self-expression  will  permit.  But  never 
permit  the  pupils  to  suffer  for  want  of  adult  assistance. 

Numerous  problems  suggest  themselves  in  connection  with  lead- 
ership in  prayer,  but  space  permits  reference  to  only  a  few.  How  long 
should  a  prayer  be?  How  many  ideas  can  be  successfully  employed? 
What  should  be  the  character  of  the  language  and  the  manner  of  it? 
What  use  can  be  profitably  made  of  sentences  or  phrases  announced  by 
the  leader  and  repeated  by  the  children?  Of  silent  prayer?  Of  directed 
silent  prayer,  the  leader  suggesting  the  thoughts  or  subject  matter? 
Of  prayer  the  content  of  which  is  suggested  by  the  pupils  either  at  the 
time  or  just  previously?  Of  extemporaneous  prayer  by  pupils  of  various 
ages? 

Further,  a  whole  series  of  problems  most  pertinent  to  the  week-day 
situation  arises  in  connection  with  the  grading  of  worship.  How  many 
ages  are  represented  in  any  one  session?     How  many  grades  should 


112  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 


be  brought  together?  If  worship  is  solely  by  classes,  how  can  the 
time  be  best  expended,  on  common  worship  of  a  formal  character, 
or  on  informal  worship?  How  adjust  the  material  and  form  to  the 
several  ages? 

Finally,  there  is  the  problem  of  constituency.  There  is  usually 
no  serious  problem  here  as  long  as  the  children  come  from  one  church. 
But  when  they  come  from  churches  whose  fundamental  ideas  concerning 
the  nature  of  God  and  his  purposes  are  at  variance,  then  there  is  real 
difficulty,  if  we  take  the  worship  seriously.  What  do  the  several  groups 
hold  with  reference  to  the  meaning  and  purpose  of  prayer?  Is  God 
an  oriental  potentate,  a  father,  a  friend,  an  autocrat,  arbitrary,  a  person, 
a  force,  subject,  to  cajolery,  immovable,  sympathetic,  cold,  far  away  in 
time  and  space,  etc?  It  makes  a  difference.  Perhaps  an  even  greater 
difficulty  arises  from  the  fact  that  now  and  then  the  church  people  them- 
selves don't  know  just  what  they  do  think  about  God,  and  that  in 
any  one  church  there  is  a  wide  difference  of  conviction  on  this  point. 
Possibly  the  week-day  school,  coming  freshly  to  this  problem,  can 
help  to  clarify  our  church  opinion  a  little,  and  build  up,  as  the  traditional 
Sunday  school  seems  to  have  failed  to  do,  a  vital  and  rational  view 
of  God. 

A  few  words,  then,  on  the  second  of  the  two  major  interests  men- 
tioned in  the  second  paragraph,  viz.,  instruction  in  worship. 

The  week-day  session  has  almost  a  clear  field  here,  and  a  most 
important  one.  All  forms  of  worship,  whether  in  connection  with  the 
session  itself,  or  in  the  Sunday  school,  or  the  home,  can  be  greatly 
improved  by  instruction  in  the  materials  and  practice  of  worship. 
A  vast  deal  of  study  is  needed  to  make  what  happens  in  worship  a  really 
vital  experience.  The  words  used  in  hymns  and  prayers  need  to  be 
defined,  the  ideas  illustrated,  the  truths  worked  out,  the  beauty  of 
form  appreciated.  Much  needs  to  be  learned  to  be  used  to  best  advantage, 
such  as  unison  prayers  and  psalms  and  some  of  the  hymns,  particularly 
the  prayer  hymns.  If  books  are  used,  there  is  need  for  training  in 
the  finding  of  places  and  the  reverent  use  of  the  printed  page.  This  is 
particularly  true  of  printed  prayers.  And  there  is  need  for  practice 
in  appreciative  singing  of  hymns,  with  due  consideration  for  their 
meaning  and  character.  The  Lord's  prayer  is  for  most  a  meaningless 
rigamarole.  It  needs  to  be  discussed  so  that  a  wealth  of  fine  associations 
may  cluster  about  its  every  phrase.     What  is  prayer?     Who  is  God? 

All  these  things  and  many  more  need  to  be  talked  over.  The  week- 
day school  offers  a  fine  occasion  for  it.  And  the  problems  are  legion. 
How  shall  we  do  it?  How  much  time  is  needed?  What  help  can  we 
find?  What  is  the  best  way  to  drill  a  class  in  the  use  of  a  prayer,  or 
psalm,  or  hymn? 


The  Application  of  Modern  Methods  to  Week-Day 
ReHgious  Instruction 

James  F.  Hosic* 

All  learning  processes  are  subject  to  the  same  laws  and  conditions. 
Fundamentally  the  ways  in  which  the  kitten  learns  are  also  the  ways  in  which 
the  baby  learns.  Indeed  many  of  the  most  useful  facts  and  principles  of  the 
newer  educational  psychology  were  arrived  at  in  the  first  instance  by  observa- 
tion of  the  ways  of  the  animal  folk.  How  much  more  true  is  it  to  say  that 
whatever  we  may  discover  concerning  the  intellectual  growth  of  children 
will  help  to  provide  more  effectively  for  their  moral  and  religious  growth. 

There  is,  moreover,  a  link  between  these  two,  the  intellectual  and  the 
religious,  which  is  missing  in  the  case  of  the  other  pair,  namely,  language 
and  the  power  of  thinking  which  it  enables.  There  is  every  reason  for  seek- 
ing in  the  field  of  regular  day-school  instruction  for  new  light  on  church- 
school  problems. 

At  the  present  time  teaching  is  in  process  of  being  greatly  invigorated 
through  the  influence  of  certain  concepts  of  method  not  before  so  clearly 
grasped  nor  so  skilfully  applied.  Taken  severally,  these  concepts  are  not 
new.  Their  synthesis  into  a  single  working  viewpoint  is,  however,  new,  as 
also  in  large  measure  the  corresponding  technique. 

Prominent  among  these  concepts  are  those  of  self -activity,  apperception, 
interest,  learning  by  doing,  psychologizing  of  subject  matter,  individuality, 
and  social  participation.  Their  prominence  in  either  the  doctrines  of  Rous- 
seau, Pestalozzi,  Froebel,  or  Herbart  will  be  recognized  at  a  glance.  What 
is  not  so  evident,  however,  is  that  all  of  them  are  implicit  in  the  notion  of 
self-directed  social  experience.  In  a  word,  the  best  conditions  for  healthy 
human  growth  are  activity  and  cooperation. 

In  the  psychology  of  experience  and  the  principles  of  social  or  religious 
living  will  be  found  theory  sufficient  to  guide  us  in  evolving  an  adequate 
technique.^  Very  gratifying  progress  is  being  made  in  doing  both,  though 
a  distressingly  large  amount  of  teaching  is  still  distinctly  formal. 

The  concept  of  growth  through  experience  is  very  fruitful  for  educa- 
tion. It  enlarges  our  idea  of  earning;  it  makes  us  suspicious  of  mere 
memory  of  words ;  it  guards  us  against  failure  to  provide  for  the  complete 
process.  Experience  should  be  largely  of  a  positive  character.  The  learner 
moves  toward  a  goal  which  he  has  more  or  less  consciously  set  up.  He  plans 
and  directs  his  own  steps  toward  that  goal.  He  criticises  and  evaluates  his 
own  progress.  Thus  his  conduct  is  shaped  by  resulting  satisfactions  and 
dissatisfactions  which  tend  toward  the  repetition  or  avoidance  of  the  course 
which  he  has  pursued. 

The  justification  for  the  stress  which  so  many  teachers  now  lay  upon 
dramatization  and  constructive  work  is  not  merely  that  the  children  are  more 
interested;  it  is  that  the  experiences  thus  enabled  are  more  complete.  The 
children  can  participate  more  fully  in  the  carrying  on  of  such  activities  than 
they  can  in  those  more  abstract  and  remote.  Vicarious  or  indirect  experi- 
ence must,  however,  be  similarly  well  rounded.     It  is  notorious  that  pupils 

*Dr.    Hosic   is   associate   professor   of   education    in    charge    of    extramural    courses    in    Teachers 
College,  Columbia  University. 

113 


114  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 

do  not  assimilate  and  retain  ideas  which  are  merely  handed  to  them.  The 
mind  must,  so  to  speak,  reach  out  after  and  consciously  grasp  and  use  the 
food  it  feels  the  need  of. 

Setting  up  the  conditions  favorable  to  the  more  educative  type  of  ex- 
perience is  the  essence  of  what  is  now  called  the  problem  or  project  method. 
This  demands  that  the  teacher  begin  where  the  pupils  are ;  that  he  assist  them 
to  discover  worthwhile  ends  of  endeavor  and  definitely  plan  to  realize  them ; 
and  that  he  encourage,  guide,  and  direct  the  workers  while  they  pursue  the 
project  to  its  culmination.  For  example,  a  class  of  seventh  grade  boys  was 
scheduled  to  study  the  Gospel  of  Mark,  using  one  of  the  helps  now  in  com- 
mon use.  They  failed  to  respond  and  the  teacher  found  it  necessary  to 
adopt  new  measures.  He  decided  to  suggest  to  the  boys  that  they  make 
their  own  outline  history  of  the  life  of  Jesus.  Simple  notebooks  and  paper 
for  drawing  were  secured.  Then  the  question  was  put,  "How  shall  we  do 
this?"  "Read  a  chapter  and  see  what  happened  and  then  make  our  own 
outline  of  it,"  was  the  reply.  Presently  the  map  was  necessary  to  clear  up 
the  events.  A  contest  ensued  as  to  who  could  best  portray  the  Master's 
journeys.  Most  of  the  class  began  to  grasp  the  story.  Soon  discussions 
arose  and  quite  naturally  the  teachings  of  Jesus  were  introduced  into  the 
lessons.  This  led  to  an  outline  of  what  Jesus  stood  for.  Ultimately  most 
of  the  boys  obtained  most  of  the  results  which  the  course  was  planned  to 
give.  But  these  would  never  have  come  through  merely  formal  instruction. 
They  came  through  purposeful  activity,  organized  around  a  goal  consciously 
set  up.    In  a  word,  they  were  learned  through  a  project. 

Note  that  the  efforts  of  the  boys  were  guided  by  a  purpose  identical 
with  that  of  the  school  of  which  they  were  a  part.  They  sought  to  learn 
what  Jesus  said  and  did.  But  the  learning  which  actually  took  place  was 
not  so  simple  as  this.  The  boys  found  a  satisfaction  in  reading  about  the 
deeds  of  Jesus.  They  were  impressed  with  his  way  of  meeting  the  problems 
he  had  to  face.  They  discovered  why  so  many  others  all  over  the  world 
have  learned  to  admire  and  follow  the  Master.  They  learned  how  to  read 
intelligently  the  account  of  what  he  did  and  said.  Incidentally  they  acquired 
a  greater  respect  for  the  church  school  as  a  place  where  actual  work  is 
done  and  done  by  the  pupils  themselves.  They  learned,  moreover,  to  help 
each  other  and  to  cooperate  with  the  teacher.  These  are  some  of  the  things 
which  schools  of  religion  exist  to  teach. 

From  the  side  of  the  psychology  of  learning,  then,  the  chief  contribution 
of  modern  method  is  the  theory  and  technique  of  projects.  There  is  danger 
that  the  project  idea  may  be  taken  in  a  superficial  sense  and  m.ay  in  conse- 
quence add  little  of  value  to  the  practices  of  church  schools.  There  is  evi- 
dence that  this  danger  is  a  real  one.  Nevertheless,  nothing  could  be  more 
fruitless  than  the  formal  instruction  which  the  new  idea  tends  to  displace 
and  a  serious  consideration  of  what  really  happens  when  we  really  do  things 
or  really  experience  them  vicariously  will  tend  to  obviate  the  danger.  Other 
things  being  equal,  the  fuller  the  participation,  the  greater  the  growth.  Hence 
the  keynote  should  be,  Greater  opportunity  for  participation  in  educative 
experiences. 

But  not  all  experiences  are  equally  valuable  for  developing  moral-social 
character.  Experience  may  be  effective  but  tend  to  wrong  ideals  and  wrong 
habits.     What  sort  of  experience  tends  to  religion  and  morality?     Again 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  115 

modern  method  has  its  suggestions,  for  though  debarred  from  "direct"  in- 
struction in  religion,  the  pubhc  school  has  never  been,  either  in  theory  or  in 
fact,  a  "godless  institution." 

Our  cue  is  found  as  before  in  the  concept  of  learning  by  doing.  If 
pupils  are  to  develop  the  spirit  of  w^orship,  it  must  be  by  active,  real  par- 
ticipation in  worship.  If  they  are  to  become  keen  for  the  welfare  of  others, 
it  must  be  by  actually  taking  thought  for  the  welfare  of  others.  If  they  are 
to  meet  and  overcome  their  tendencies  to  antisocial  conduct,  it  must  be  by 
practicing  with  conscious  success  social  conduct.  The  spirit  of  fellowship 
grows  through  fellowship. 

Now  the  modern  school  undertakes  to  develop  ideals  and  habits  of 
moral-social  conduct  through  the  social  experiences  of  the  classroom,  the 
assembly,  and  the  playground,  not  by  causing  the  pupils  to  learn  abstract 
statements  about  such  conduct.  The  method  is  again  the  problem  method, 
the  method  of  cooperative  group  enterprise.  The  children  do  things  to- 
gether. They  learn  to  work  with  others  by  working  with  them.  The  at- 
tempt to  do  so  is  made  a  conscious  endeavor  and  hence  the  resulting  satisfac- 
tions attach  to  the  right  point  of  reference. 

It  follows  that  the  church  school,  so  far  as  it  aims  at  similar  goals, 
should  consider  how  far  these  same  methods  are  applicable  to  its  work.  The 
children  should  be  called,  not  merely  to  worship,  but  to  assist  in  making  the 
worship  more  worthy.  They  should  not  only  study  about  social  problems 
but  should  help  solve  them.  They  should  consider,  not  merely  the  trials 
and  temptations  of  the  heroes  of  the  Old  Testament  but  also  their  own  and 
those  of  their  neighbors. 

As  Professor  Coe  has  so  clearly  pointed  out,  where  the  religious  instruc- 
tion of  the  past  largely  failed  was  in  offering  to  boys  and  girls  little  aid  in 
solving  their  own  present  religious  problems.  In  this  respect  the  newer 
conception  of  educational  method  is  most  helpful.  It  starts  with  the  pupils' 
own  problems  and  brings  the  experience  of  others  to  bear  to  help  in  solving 
those,  instead  of  seeking  to  impart  a  knowledge  of  past  experience  in  the 
hope  that  when  the  need  arises  in  the  life  of  the  learner  the  solution  will  be 
at  hand. 

And  it  regards  the  child  as  able  to  play  a  larger  part  in  choosing  his 
purposes  and  in  carrying  them  out  than  was  formerly  thought  possible. 
Not  withholding  necessary  stimulation  and  guidance,  it  nevertheless  gives 
adequate  play  to  intelligent  self-direction.  Above  all  it  prizes  attitudes, 
ideals,  and  habits  as  of  more  ultimate  value  in  conduct  than  mere  informa- 
tion as  such.  The  latter  is  best  acquired  under  the  stimulus  of  a  controlling 
purpose,  rather  as  a  means  to  an  end  than  as  an  end  in  itself. 

The  use  of  modern  methods  will  require  the  building  up  of  a  new 
tradition  of  what  constitutes  both  learning  and  teaching.  It  demands  a  new 
point  of  view  and  much  new  technique.  It  implies  the  revision  of  the  course 
of  study  and  the  rejection  or  postponement  of  much  that  can  not  be  made  to 
function  in  a  sufficiently  useful  way  in  the  experience  of  children.  But  since 
the  principles  of  reorganization  are  to  be  found  in  the  nature  of  human 
personality  itself  and  in  the  example  and  teachings  of  Jesus,  we  should 
courageously  undertake  it.  For  Jesus  believed  in  the  school  of  experience, 
which  he  made  also  a  school  of  fellowship,  as  his  relationship  to  his  disciples 
clearly  shows. 


An  Evaluation  of  the  Aims  of  Week-day  Schools 

Benjamin  S.  Winchester* 

As  one  scrutinizes  the  aims  of  week-day  schools  of  religion,  as  disclosed 
in  the  survey  of  Prof.  Shaver,  he  is  driven  to  two  conclusions:  first,  that 
these  schools  owe  their  existence  to  the  fact  that  there  is  a  widespread  and 
growing  conviction  that  our  present  efforts  at  religious  education  are  inade- 
quate, and,  second,  that  the  aims  around  which  these  schools  are  being  or- 
ganized, and  which  are  to  determine  their  curricula,  methods  of  teaching, 
organization  and  administration,  are  not  essentially  dift'erent  from  those 
which  lie  back  of  the  other  agencies  of  religious  education,  such  as  the  Sun- 
day-school, for  example.  Let  us  consider  briefly  the  significance  of  these 
conclusions. 

I,     The  conviction  that  Present  Religious  Education  is  Inadequate. 

It  is  judged  to  be  inadequate  on  various  grounds.  First,  the  conditions 
in  society  indicate  that  this  is  true.  The  prevalence  of  crime,  the  loosening 
of  moral  restraints,  the  evidences  of  selfishness  and  greed,  the  emphasis  upon 
rights  rather  than  upon  duties,  the  injustices  and  barbarities  of  our  boasted 
civilization,  the  dependence  upon  force  rather  than  upon  reason  and  per- 
suasion as  a  method  of  settling  disputes — all  these  indicate  that  something 
is  radically  wrong  with  us,  and  religious  people  are  impelled  to  believe  that 
these  symptoms  point  to  a  need  of  more  religion  and  reveal  shortcomings 
in  our  religious  education. 

This  conviction  is  deepened  as  one  looks  closer.  It  is  discovered  that 
a  very  large  proportion  of  our  population  is  quite  outside  the  range  of  im- 
mediate educational  effort.  These  27,000,000  are  untouched  by  religious  edu- 
cation of  any  systematic  kind  simply  because  they  do  not  go  to  church  or 
Sunday-school.  Moreover,  those  who  do  go  seem  to  gain  but  little.  The 
Report  on  Religion  Among  American  Men  was  a  startling  revelation  as  to 
the  place  which  religion  occupies — or  fails  to  occupy — in  the  consciousness 
of  the  average  man,  for  the  draft  gave  us  a  cross  section  of  the  young  man- 
hood of  America. 

We  seem,  therefore,  to  be  compelled  to  admit  that  our  efforts  at  relig- 
ous  education  thus  far  have  fallen  far  short  of  producing  the  etfects,  either 
in  the  individual  or  in  society  at  large,  which  must  be  produced  if  this 
world  is  to  be  a  satisfactory  one  in  which  to  live.  Life  now  is  too  hampered, 
too  subject  to  the  limitations  and  disturbances  which  cause  widespread  an- 
noyance and  suffering.  Militarism,  industrial  warfare,  partisan  politics, 
competitive  commercialism,  exploitation  of  the  weak  by  the  strong,  the  lust 
for  and  the  misuse  of  power,  class  hatred,  race  antagonism,  domestic  trag- 
edy and  the  crime  in  high  places  and  in  the  underworld — all  these  are  far 
too  prevalent  in  our  so-called  Christian  civilization  and  we  seem  incapable 
of  avoiding  them.    They  seem  beyond  control. 

The  hopeful  aspect  of  the  situation  is  this.  Not  only  is  there  a  hunger 
for  a  less  restricted,  more  abundant  life,  but  the  very  movement  toward  week- 
day religious  education  is  evidence  of  the  belief  that  this  bad  state  of  things 
can  be  improved,  through  religion  and  by  means  of  educational  methods. 

*Dr.  Winchester  is  the  Associate  Editor  for  the  Congregational  Publishing  Society,  Boston.    His 
paper  is  based  upon  the  studies  of  "Aims,"  published  in  Religious  Education  for  February. 

116 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  117 

The  abundant  life  we  hope  for  is,  must  be,  attainable.  If  we  have  had  too 
little  religious  education,  let  us  have  more  of  it.  Let  us  bring  more  people 
under  its  influence.  Let  us  devote  more  time  to  it.  Let  us  make  our  disci- 
pline more  thorough.  Thus  far,  I  fancy,  we  should  all  find  ourselves  in 
substantial  agreement. 

IL  The  Assumption  that  Present  Needs  will  be  Alet  by  More  Relig- 
ious Education  of  the  Same  Sort. 

It  is  perfectly  natural  that  the  persons  who  are  convinced  that  more 
religious  education  is  necessary  should  proceed  to  expand  along  lines  already 
familiar.  Let  us  teach  more  Bible,  more  missions,  more  church  history.  Let 
us  place  more  emphasis  upon  drill  and  memorization.  Let  us  make  Bible 
stories  more  attractive  and  interesting.  Let  us  have  better  text  books,  illus- 
trative material,  and  more  elaborate  equipment.  Let  us  employ  more  of  the 
methods  which  have  been  effective  in  public  schools — map  work,  hand  work, 
dramatization,  expressional  activities.  We  must  seek  in  every  possible  way 
to  get  knowledge  across,  to  motivate  the  instruction  by  means  of  credits 
and  tests.  Let  us  have  more  worship,  the  learning  of  more  hymns  and 
prayers. 

If,  however,  our  religious  education  is  admittedly  inadequate,  it  is  a 
fair  question  as  to  whether  the  present  unsatisfactory  conditions  in  society 
will  be  remedied,  or  in  any  considerable  measure  improved,  by  simply  in- 
creasing the  amount  of  the  same  kind  of  education.  It  may  be  that  we  need 
a  different  kind.  Before  we  commit  ourselves  finally  to  the  building  up  of 
a  new  institution  upon  the  old  foundations,  it  would  be  well  to  examine 
afresh  the  aims  for  which  the  institution  is  to  exist.  It  may  be  that  we 
shall  discover  other  fundamental  reasons  that  help  to  account  for  the  in- 
adequacy of  our  religious  education.  It  may  be  that  the  present  unsatisfac- 
tory conditions  in  society  are  partly  the  result  of  conflicting  aims  in  educa- 
tion, of  uncorrelated  teaching  processes,  of  waste  and  confusion  due  to  the 
overlapping  of  agencies  and  programs.  If  so,  we  should  hardly  remedy  a 
bad  situation  by  devising  another  agency  of  similar  type  to  do  the  same  sort 
of  thing  in  more  vigorous  and  determined  fashion  and  thus  add  still  more 
to  the  confusion  and  mal-adjustment  from  which  the  mind  of  the  pupil  al- 
ready suffers. 

This  may  seem  a  harsh  way  of  putting  the  case.  There  is  no  desire  to 
speak  inviduously  of  week-day  schools,  or  to  disparage  their  efforts.  There 
are  obvious  reasons  why  their  aims  should  be,  at  the  start,  those  which  have 
been  generally  assumed  in  other  schools.  The  very  desire  for  more  time, 
which  has  led  many  to  seek  for  an  allowance  of  time  from  the  public  school 
program,  has  brought  pressure  to  bear  from  school  boards  which  tends  to 
strengthen  the  assumption  that  knowledge  is  the  important  thing  in  educa- 
tion. "Produce  your  text  books,  let  us  see  your  course  of  study,  before 
you  ask  for  public  school  time,"  they  say.  Public  school  efficiency,  in  the 
popular  mind,  has  certain  tangible  aspects.  It  is  apt  to  be  jud^d  by  the 
elaborateness  of  courses  of  study,  as  apparent  in  text  books,  "stiffness"  of 
courses,  rigidity  of  discipline,  "high  standards." 

Moreover,  in  asking  support  for  these  week-day  schools,  those  who 
stand  sponsor  for  them  must  show  results.  The  public  is  not  content  to 
pour  money  into  a  new  venture  year  after  year  with  nothing  to  show  for 
it.    The  easiest  things  to  visualize  the  conception  of  religious  education  are 


118  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 

"exhibits"  of  hand  work,  note  book  work,  essays,  examination  papers,  mod- 
els, memory  drihs,  demonstrations,  dramatizations — all  of  which  leave  still 
unanswered  that  deeper  question.  What  have  the  pupils  become  f  How  dif- 
ferently do  they  feel  and  act?  What  habits  and  attitudes  have  been  estab- 
lished? By  what  motives  and  purposes  are  they  controlled?  It  is  not  so 
easy  to  make  a  convincing  demonstration  of  these  things,  nor  can  a  demon- 
stration be  made  so  speedily.  It  may  require  not  months,  but  years,  to  con- 
vince a  community  of  the  real  success  of  a  school,  judged  by  such  tests  as 
these.    But  these,  after  all,  are  the  true  tests. 

We  plead,  then,  for  patience  in  the  formulating  of  aims.  Let  us  not 
lose  this  fine  opportunity,  offered  by  a  widespread  desire  for  something 
more  and  better,  by  failing  to  think  through  our  educational  processes  until 
we  arrive  at  something  better,  and  not  merely  something  more.  Let  us  in- 
sist upon  a  fresh  formulation  of  our  aims  in  religious  education;  first,  the 
great,  central,  controlling  aim,  by  which  all  elements  which  enter  into  the 
educational  process  are  to  be  relentlessly  judged.  And  then,  the  subsidiary 
aims,  around  which  to  build  in  detail  our  future  systems  of  religious  educa- 
tion. The  survey  plainly  discloses  the  fact  that  this  is  precisely  what  we  have 
failed  to  do  as  yet.    But  how  shall  we  proceed  toward  such  formulations  ? 

Have  we  not  a  clue  in  the  very  conviction  out  of  which  week-day  schools 
have  arisen,  the  conviction  that  the  state  of  society  is  becoming  intolerable, 
but  also  that  it  is  improbable?  Let  us  set  out  from  this  point  of  departure, 
and  ask  the  further  questions:  In  what  respects  is  the  present  order  of 
society  unsatisfactory?  What  kind  of  a  world  would  we  like  to  create, 
through  education?  What  sorts  of  individuals  would  be  necessary  to  make 
up  such  a  world?  And  by  what  educational  agencies  and  processes  may 
such  individuals  be  produced?  If  we  could  but  answer  these  questions  we 
should  be  in  a  position  to  test  and  evaluate  our  materials,  our  methods,  and 
our  results  in  the  teaching  process. 

This  leads  us  at  once  to  the  heart  of  the  problem.  If  it  is  our  hope 
to  improve  society,  then  our  education  must  be  such  as  to  lead  each  pupil  to 
reflect  upon,  and  to  seek  to  change  the  world  in  which  he  is  living,  the  real 
world  of  his  everyday  experience,  the  world  in  which  he  finds  his  everyday 
relationships  to  parents,  brothers  and  sisters,  schoolmates  and  playmates. 
Our  education  must  seek  to  make  God  a  real  Fact  in  every  part  of  this  ex- 
perience, a  Reality  not  only  to  be  reckoned  with  but  also  to  be  cooperated 
with  and  helped  by — not  only  a  Fact  of  experience,  but  a  potent  Factor  in  the 
attainment  of  satisfaction  in  living.  And  if  we  are  convinced  that  certain 
attitudes  and  responses  which  children  make  to  this  world  of  their  experi- 
ences result  only  in  making  their  own  and  others'  lives  miserable,  then  our 
education  must  set  itself  to  the  cultivation  of  other  attitudes  and  responses 
and  habits  which  lead  to  the  opposite  result. 

This  leads  us,  then,  to  the  study  of  the  motives  from  which  children 
act  to  a  study  of  the  strains  and  problems  of  childhood,  the  instincts  and 
desires  which  now  control  conduct,  and  to  a  study  of  the  processes  by 
means  of  which  these  motive  forces  may  be  transformed  into  others.  We 
are  concerned,  in  other  words,  with  nothing  less  than  the  making  and  re- 
making of  human  nature,  as  Prof.  Hocking  has  put  it,  with  nothing  less  than 
the  transformation  of  instinct  and  the  supplying  of  powerful  new  motives. 
It  is  not  our  task  to  attempt  to  present  in  detail  the  aims  which  should 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  119 

guide  our  educative  processes,  but  simply  to  evaluate  the  aims  already  con- 
fessed. To  attempt  to  make  a  detailed  statement  of  aims  would  lead  us 
into  the  whole  problem  of  the  curriculum,  and  that  is  another  story.  That 
theme  will  be  discussed  elsewhere  in  connection  with  the  program.  We  may, 
however,  pause  to  say  that  the  formulation  of  the  kind  of  aims  we  are  ad- 
vocating does  not  involve  the  abandonment  of  those  things  we  have  pre- 
viously assumed  to  be  essential  in  religious  education.  The  Bible  and  mis- 
sions, and  all  the  other  things,  will  still  have  their  place.  But  they  are  all 
means,  not  ends.  And  if  we  can  but  recognize  them  as  such  we  shall  have 
taken  the  step  so  necessary  in  order  to  vitalize  our  use  of  any  of  them.  Sub- 
jects as  ends  of  instruction  have  but  a  doubtful  and  uncertain  appeal,  but 
subjects  as  means  to  the  attainment  of  a  desired  end — an  end  which  is  de- 
sirable to  the  pupil  because  a  necessary  and  recognized  part  of  his  own  ex- 
perience— subjects  and  books  and  paraphernalia  of  teaching  which  find  this 
kind  of  an  introduction  to  the  pupil's  mind  become  immediately  important 
and  worth  while.  And  things  which  do  not  seem  worth  while  to  the  pupil 
are  not  really  taught,  however  important  they  may  seem  to  the  teacher.  The 
surest  way,  therefore,  to  realize  what  many  of  us  now  think  we  are  after 
is  to  seek  for  a  different  thing,  namely  a  definite  result  in  the  pupil,  and 
these  other  things  shall  be  realized  in  addition. 

So  far  as  the  movement  toward  week-day  religious  education  has  pro- 
gressed, we  may  express  the  judgment  that  it  has  started  with  a  very  fruit- 
ful impulse,  the  conviction  that  we  need  a  better  world,  a  more  just  and 
kindly  order  of  society,  made  up  of  well-disposed,  cooperative,  sympathetic 
and  devoted  individuals,  intelligent  as  to  the  causes  of  discontent  and  bent 
upon  removing  them ;  in  short,  a  world  made  up  of  men  and  women  who 
love  God  supremely  and  their  neighbors  as  themselves.  But,  thus  far,  it  ap- 
pears that  the  persons  who  have  set  out  thus  hopefully  upon  this  splendid 
enterprise  are  in  danger  of  letting  slip  this  golden  opportunity  to  seize  upon 
the  only  clue  which  will  ever  lead  us  anywhere,  the  clue  that  is  furnished  by 
life  itself,  the  life  of  the  pupil  whom  we  would  educate  plus  the  experience 
which  mature  people  have  already  gained  through  living.  Instead  of  fol- 
lowing this  clue,  attention  is  being  diverted  from  life  itself  to  materials  and 
programs  and  methods  which  are  never  ends  in  themselves  and  of  whose 
value  we  can  judge  only  as  we  keep  constantly  before  us  the  conditions  and 
problems  of  life. 


The  Aim  of  Week-Day  Religious  Education 

George  Craig  Stewart* 

To  make  God  central  and  not  circumferential ;  to  make  Him  focal 
and  not  marginal,  vital  not  casual,  a  living  Presence  and  power,  not  a 
dead  impressive  name, — this  is  the  supreme  aim  of  Week-Day  Re- 
ligious Education. 

The  supreme  aim  is  not  to  teach  the  Bible — that  is  a  means  to  the 
end ;  nor  to  teach  behaviour — that  is  a  fruit  not  a  root ;  nor  good  citi- 
zenship, nor  social  service,  though  they  follow  as  the  day  follows  the 

*The  opening  of  the  discussion   following  the  paper  by  Dr.   B.   S.   Winchester.     Dr.   Stewart  is 
the  Rector  of  St.  Luke's  Episcopal  Church,  Evanston,  111. 


120  WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

sun.  The  supreme  aim  is  to  call  God  in  from  the  frontiers,  and  to  make 
Him  real,  neighborly,  available,  usable,  indispensable.  The  aim  in  a 
word  is  to  complete  our  educational  system  which,  without  religion, 
drags  like  Pharaoh's  chariots.  There  can  be  no  education  which  leaves 
out  religion.  There  can  be  no  education  which  leaves  out  the  supreme 
fact  in  the  physical  universe,  the  supreme  fact  in  human  life,  which  is 
God.  One  cannot  pack  his  suit-case  and  leave  out  the  suit-case.  One 
cannot  study  art,  science,  literature,  history,  philosophy,  and  leave  out 
religion  which  is  the  warp  and  woof  of  all  of  them.  Religion  is  no 
mere  department  of  life.  It  is  no  mere  elective  course  in  the  school  of 
life.     It  is  as  Browning  said : — 

"No  mere  smile  o'  contentment 

No  mere  sigh  of  aspiration  sir. 

No  quality  of  the  finelier  tempered  clay," — 
No  mere  luxury  for  exquisites,  no  mere  cake  and  ice-cream  at  the  feast, 
no  mere  embroidery  for  the  robe, — but  rather 

"Stuff  o'  the  very  stuff 

Life  of  life,  self  of  self." 
To  develop,  then,  in  children  their  awareness  of  God  by  faith, 
to  sharpen  their  spiritual  focus,  to  train  them  in  the  art  of  prayer,  to 
cultivate  in  them  a  robust  spirit  of  loyalty  to  God  and  obedience  to 
Him,  and  love  for  Him  with  all  their  heart  and  mind  and  soul  and 
strength,  this  is  not  only  the  first  and  great  commandment,  but  the 
first  and  greatest  aim  of  our  Week-Day  Schools. 

And  the  second  is  like  unto  this,  to  train  the  child  to  love  his  neigh- 
bour as  himself. 


What  Official  Relations  Are  Desirable  With  Public 
Schools?     What  Unofficial? 

Jesse  B.  Davis* 

Our  public  schools  are  now  in  the  process  of  reorganization.  With  the 
great  changes  tliat  have  taken  place  in  the  population  of  our  schools,  in  the 
alarming  tendencies  of  modern  civilization,  and  in  the  whole  science  of  edu- 
cational theory  and  practice,  we  have  been  forced  to  formulate  a  new  state- 
ment of  our  aims  and  purposes. 

The  National  Educational  Association,  which  is  our  chief  nationalizing 
influence,  through  its  commission  on  the  Reorganization  of  Secondary  Educa- 
tion, has  announced  its  aims  under  the  caption  of  the  "seven  main  objectives." 
These  objectives  may  be  applied  to  the  whole  field  of  public  education  and 
are  stated  as  follows:  health,  command  of  fundamental  processes,  worthy 
home  membership,  vocation,  citizenship,  worthy  use  of  leisure  time,  and 
ethical  character.  Ethical  character  is  placed  last  in  the  list,  not  because  it  is 
of  least  importance,  but  because  it  is  the  all  inclusive  purpose  to  be  accom- 
plished by  and  through  all  of  the  other  objectives. 

Along  with  this  movement  for  reorganization  has  been  a  broadening  and 
extending  of  the  functions  of  the  public  schools.     Buildings  are  now  open 

*State   Supervisor  of   Secondary   Schools   for   Connecticut,   Hartford. 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  131 

day  and  night  to  students  of  all  races  and  all  ages.  "The  curriculum  is  so 
broad  that  practically  any  subject  will  be  taught  or  any  line  of  training  will 
be  given  for  which  there  is  a  sufficient  demand  to  warrant  the  employment 
of  an  instructor.  The  schools  are  going  out  into  the  factories  to  teach  Eng- 
lish to  foreigners  and  to  train  for  citizenship.  They  are  going  into  the  homes 
to  teach  mothers  how  to  care  for  their  babes  and  how  to  keep  house  in  the 
American  way.  They  are  joining  hands  with  Chambers  of  Commerce,  Rotary 
Clubs  and  Kiwanis  Clubs  to  aid  boys  in  the  choosing  of  vocations.  They  are 
opening  their  doors  to  most  intimate  cooperation  with  the  Boy  Scouts,  the 
Camp  Fire  Girls,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.  If,  then,  in  the  full 
development  and  training  of  the  child,  public  schools  are  reaching  out  their 
hands  and  soliciting  cooperation  with  every  agency  vitally  affecting  the  life 
of  the  child,  why  should  they  not  hold  out  their  hands  to  cooperate  with  the 
church? 

The  first  answer  is  that  up  to  the  present  moment  the  church  has  had 
very  little  that  wastangible  to  offer  by  way  of  cooperation.  The  Protestant 
Church  has  never  taken  its  responsibility  toward  the  child  seriously.  It  has 
admonished  the  parents  and  then  left  the  obligation  of  religious  training  upon 
the  home.  It  has  maintained  a  feeble,  half-hearted  support  of  the  Sunday- 
school  which  is  not  functioning  satisfactorily  in  the  present  generation.  Now, 
a  sudden  awakening  has  taken  place,  and  without  stopping  to  know  scien- 
tifically the  ways  or  the  means,  the  church  is  rushing  into  a  movement  for 
week-day  schools  of  religion  as  the  solution  of  its  problem,  and  to  aid  in  its 
promotion  is  making  certain  very  definite  demands  upon  the  public  schools. 

Public  school  ofificials  have  always  realized  that  the  schools  could  not 
completely  round  out  the  education  of  the  child  because  they  have  been  for- 
bidden to  attempt  directly  to  develop  his  religious  or  spiritual  nature.  Some 
ofificials  who  have  had  this  problem  at  heart  have  welcomed  this  week-day 
movement,  and,  without  analyzing  the  situation  or  by  utterly  disregarding  the 
consequences,  have  granted  every  request. 

Other  officials,  while  really  desirous  of  accomplishing  the  same  result  in 
the  complete  education  of  the  child,  are  conscientiously  asking  certain  very 
fundamental  questions : — 

1.  Just  what  is  the  real  aim  of  this  proposition?  You  do  not  seem  to 
be  agreed  in  your  stated  purposes.  If  the  plan  is  to  promote  sectarianism, 
if  you  do  not  clearly  know  just  what  you  are 'expecting  to  accomplish,  are 
you  justified  in  coming  to  the  public  schools  and  demanding  the  time  of  the 
children?  As  public  of^cials,  we  certainly  have  no  right  to  go  before  our 
Boards  of  education  to  ask  their  formal  action  upon  a  proposition  which  is 
only  half -prepared  and  which  is  open  to  question  as  to  its  real  motive. 

2.  We  admit  that  religion  is  an  essential  factor  in  the  nurture  of  the 
child.  What  do  you  conceive  to  be  religion  ?  Can  it  be  taught  out  of  a  book  ? 
Is  it  a  matter  of  information  alone?  Does  it  not  imply  feeling  and  emotion 
as  well  as  intelligence,  and  does  not  worship  play  a  most  important  part  in 
developing  the  spiritual  life?  Are  you  sure  that  you  have  worked  out  a 
satisfactory  plan  to  accomplish  these  essential  things — the  essential  factors 
which  the  public  schools  cannot  supply? 

The  progressive,  up-to-date  public  school  is  now  training  the  child  in 
right  habits  of  thinking,  in  forming  right  habits  of  conduct  as  an  individual 
and  as  a  social  being,  and  can,  in  all  probability,  do  this  much  better  than 


122  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

the  church  school.  And  it  must  be  recognized  that  there  is  much  in  the  life 
and  influence  of  the  public  school  that  is  distinctly  spiritual  and  religious. 
The  school  of  religion  must  prove  to  us  that  it  can  do  what  the  public  school 
cannot  do,  before  we  can  be  justified  in  taking  time  from  an  already  over- 
crowded curriculum  or  in  substituting  this  work  for  some  other  regular 
school  activity. 

3.  As  public  officials  we  are  representatives  of  the  zvliole  community 
and  must  respect  its  opinions  and  its  feelings.  We  are  under  obligation  to 
obey  and  respect  local  ordinances,  state  laws  and  the  spirit  of  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States.  Therefore,  before  taking  any  steps  which  would  pre- 
cipitate the  community  into  a  religious  controversy,  and  so  bring  disorganiza- 
tion and  confusion  into  the  public  schools,  we  must  be  very  certain  of  the 
ground  upon  which  we  stand. 

To  grant  time  from  the  regular  school  day,  to  permit  the  use  of  school 
buildings  for  religious  education,  to  use  the  time  of  the  teachers  or  super- 
visors to  inspect  and  in  any  way  be  responsible  for  the  curriculum  or  methods 
of  teaching  religion,  is  treading  on  questionable  ground.  In  some  communi- 
ties no  difficulties  may  arise,  but  in  other  parts  of  the  country  the  suggestion 
alone  is  sufficient  to  start  a  conflagration.  I  am  well  aware  of  the  ideal  possi- 
bilities of  such  cooperation  and  of  the  arguments  to  answer  this  position,  but 
I  would  simply  remind  you  that  it  is  a  condition  and  not  a  theory  which  con- 
fronts us. 

4.  A  study  of  the  survey  shows  that  this  movement  is  now  in  a  very 
early  experimental  state,  that  its  policies,  methods,  and  best  form  of  admini- 
stration have  yet  to  be  worked  out  satisfactorily.  We  are  convinced  that 
it  is  a  movement  in  the  right  direction,  that  it  ought  eventually  to  succeed, 
and  we  are  anxious  to  be  of  assistance  in  solving  this  difficult  problem. 
However,  if  by  the  expression  "official  relation"  is  meant  the  taking  of  any 
action  which  requires  the  formal  sanction  of  the  Board  of  Education,  we 
doubt  very  seriously  the  desirability  of  such  a  procedure  at  the  present  stage 
of  the  movement. 

This  statement,  however,  should  not  be  interpreted  as  inconsistent  with 
the  thought  implied  earlier  in  the  discussion,  that  the  hands  of  the  public 
school  are  outstretched  to  cooperate  with  every  agency  concerned  with  the 
welfare  of  the  child.  The  public  school  is  and  should  be  ready  to  cooperate 
in  every  desirable  way  in  encouraging  and  perfecting  a  plan  lor  the  religious 
training  of  youth. 

In  this  day  we  are  depending  altogether  too  much  upon  reform  by  out- 
ward regulation.  As  Dr.  Cope  has  so  splendidly  stated  in  his  introduction 
to  the  survey,  "This  is  an  era  of  imposed  morality.  Salvation  by  legislation  is 
the  popular  faith,  with  those  who  care  about  any  form  or  degree  of  salvation." 
This  appeals  to  us  as  the  easiest  way  out  of  our  difficulties.  Is  it  not  in  line 
with  this  tendency  when  we  demand  that  the  public  schools  make  official  rules 
which  will  help  force  children  to  attend  our  week-day  schools  of  religion,  and 
which  will  force  us  to  maintain  a  proper  standard  of  curriculum  and  methods 
of  teaching?  Is  there  no  faith  in  God,  no  faith  in  the  Church,  no  faith  in  the 
power  to  solve  this  problem  from  zmthinf  Let  us  admit  that  we  have  failed 
of  our  past  responsibility,  but  let  us  first  recognize  the  obligation  of  His 
organized  forces  on  earth  toward  the  child  life  of  the  nation.  We  need  to 
impress  upon  the  Church  itself  its  full  duty  in  a  manner  which  will  bring 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  123 

forth  the  necessary  power  and  support  that  will  make  this  movement  a  suc- 
cess. This  movement  must  be  made  to  stand  upon  its  ozmi  foundation;  it 
must  be  made  to  prove  its  ozun  value  as  an  educational  factor  in  the  life  of 
the  child.  Leaning  upon  the  support  of  artificial  relations  with  the  public 
schools  is  an  admission  of  weakness,  and,  without  the  fountain  of  spiritual 
power  springing  from  within  the  church,  the  plan  is  certain  of  ultimate 
failure. 

The  public  schools  can  cooperate  with  the  church  school  very  effectively 
just  as  they  are  now  cooperating  with  the  Boy  Scouts,  the  Camp  Fire  Girls, 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  many  other  agencies  touching  the  lives  of  the  boys  and 
girls.    Some  definite  sugestions  for  such  cooperation  may  prove  helpful. 

1.  Teachers  may  be  asked  to  serve  on  committees  or  boards  to  aid  in 
planning  courses  of  study,  methods  of  teaching,  and  pupil  activities  which 
will  correlate  with  the  work  and  activities  of  the  public  schools  supplement- 
ing and  not  overlapping  the  work  now  being  done. 

2.  Teachers  may  indirectly  and  through  personal  contacts  do  much  to 
encourage  the  attendance  of  individual  pupils  at  some  church  school. 

3.  In  problems  of  discipline,  the  teacher  can  take  the  moral  principle 
at  stake  in  the  life  of  the  child  into  confidential  conference  with  the  church- 
school  leader.  This  will  give  an  opportunity  to  bring  the  spiritual  impulse 
into  action  as  a  power  behind  the  will  to  do  that  which  will  make  the  wrong 
action  right. 

4.  The  extra  curricula  activities  of  the  children  may  be  correlated 
with  the  group  activities  of  the  children  in  the  church  schools  in  a  manner 
to  prevent  conflicting  pulls  upon  the  child  and  to  encourage  such  groups 
effectively  to  carry  out  their  purposes. 

5.  It  might  be  possible  to  plan  a  fifteen  minute  morning  devotional 
service  for  school  children  at  some  church  building  located  near  the  public 
school.  This  would  provide  the  religious  atmosphere  and  could  be  attended 
by  both  teachers  and  pupils  without  any  possible  objection.  It  would  not 
need  to  begin  before  twenty  minutes  before  nine,  and  it  would  carry  over 
impressions  that  would  function  in  the  lessons,  the  activities  and  the  tempta- 
tions of  the  day. 

6.  A  parent-teacher  association  in  connection  with  the  school  of  re- 
ligious education  could  be  made  a  valuable  factor  in  bringing  pupils  to  the 
school  and  in  making  the  teaching  of  the  school  function  in  the  life  of  the 
child  at  home  as  well  as  in  the  public  school. 

7.  Sunday  is  a  day  set  aside  for  religious  observance.  What  are  we 
doing  for  the  child  on  this  day  ?  We  have  the  whole  day  at  our  disposal  and 
have  not  yet  made  full  use  of  our  opportunity.  We  have  been  content  to  hold 
a  few  children  for  a  few  minutes,  more  or  less  under  compulsion,  and  have 
been  serenely  content.  Where  and  how  are  these  children  spending  the  rest 
of  this  holy  day?  We  are  challenged  to  plan  activities  which  will  be  an 
interesting  and  attractive  substitute  for  the  present  questionable  waste  of 
time.  It  is  possible  that  in  this  way  we  might  be  able  to  prove  that  we  can 
use  the  time  already  at  our  disposal  efficiently  before  we  ask  the  public 
schools  to  make  a  sacrifice  of  time  for  us. 

These  criticisms  and  suggestions  are  offered  in  a  spirit  of  sincere  desire 
to  see  this  movement  for  religious  education  succeed.  They  are  intended  to 
be  constructive  and  not  destructive.    We  have  made  a  very  worth-while  begin- 


124  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

ning.  We  have  experimented  far  enough  to  recognize  our  weak  and  our 
strong  points.  We  are  living  in  an  age  that  demands  immediate  results.  We 
are  impatient  and  wish  to  force  an  unnatural  growth  in  everything  that  we 
undertake.  This  movement  is  in  the  right  direction.  It  must  be  encouraged 
and  aided  by  every  contributing  agency.  Let  us  be  patient ;  let  us  be  wise ; 
let  us  be  scientific  in  our  procedure.  The  cause  of  religious  education  must 
not  be  permitted  to  fail.  Let  us  go  forward  with  the  belief  that  it  is  possible 
for  the  church  and  the  public  school  to  cooperate  and  to  work  side  by  side  in 
the  great  task  of  training  up  the  rising  generations  in  wisdom  and  in  the  fear 
of  God. 


The  Co-Operating  Denominational  Type 

Earl  F.  Zeigler* 

L     DEFINITION 

On  page  94  of  the  April  Religious  Education  Prof,  Shaver  has  evalu- 
ated this  type  of  week-day  church  school.  He  reports  eleven  schools  but 
suggests  that  many  of  the  schools  listed  as  local  church  schools  are  probably 
cooperating  with  other  churches  in  the  community  to  a  limited  extent.  How- 
ever, we  consider  this  type  will  become  the  prevailing  type  for  40,000,000 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States.  The  distinctive  features  of  this  type  are : 
they  are  cooperative ;  yet,  they  are  denominational.  A  community  board  of 
religious  education  is  usually  a  part  of  their  plan  of  organization,  but  the  real 
decisions  come  not  from  this  board  but  from  the  pastor  or  council  in  the 
individual  denomination.    The  cooperation  is  usually  as  follows : 

1.  The  denominations  have  jointly  requested  the  public  school  authori- 
ties for  the  use  of  public-school  time. 

2.  The  cooperating  denominations  have  jointly  promised  to  hold  their 
church  school  sessions  at  the  same  hour. 

3.  They  have  in  certain  communities  agreed  to  maintain  a  community 
board  of  Religious  Education  which  is  to  have  limited  jurisdiction  over  the 
cooperating  schools. 

4.  In  certain  communities  the  teachers  have  also  formed  a  loose  teach- 
ers' organization  holding  occasional  conferences  or  institutes. 

5.  In  a  very  few  instances,  the  cooperation  has  gone  so  far  as  to  have 
a  community  board  of  religious  education  which  has  appointed  a  director  of 
religious  education  who  visits  all  of  the  schools  but  whose  jurisdiction  ceases 
with  his  power  to  make  suggestions. 

Little  has  been  done  toward  working  out  common  standards,  a  common 
curriculum  and  a  common  aim  in  religious  education. 

II.    WFIERE  THIS  TYPE  USUALLY  OCCURS 

There  is  usually  a  valid  reason  for  each  existing  type  of  week-day  church 
school.  There  will  probably  never  be  one  prevailing  type  in  the  United 
States.  Local  conditions  and  historical  denominational  differences  will  pre- 
vent community  schools  in  some  places. 

Note:     See  the  discussion  of  the  Individual   School  type  in   Religious   Education   for  April  at 
page  170. 

•Being   a   ten -minute   brief   read    at   the   19th   R.    E.    A.    Convention,   Congress    Hotel,   Chicago, 
March  31st,  1922,  by  Rev.  Earl  F.  Zeigler,  Rochelle,  111. 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  125 

The  cooperating-denominational  type  is  limited  to  the  smaller  communi- 
ties where  church  buildings  and  school  buildings  are  near  together  and  where 
existing  denominational  groupings  make  a  thorough-going  community  school 
impossible.  For  example,  a  certain  city  of  3,500  people  here  in  Illinois  has 
this  religious  alignment;  Northern  Baptist,  Roman  Catholic,  Christian  Sci- 
ence, Missouri  Synod  Lutheran,  Methodist  Episcopal  North,  and  Presby- 
terian U.  S.  A.  Two  of  the  pastors  suggested  schools  of  week-day  religious 
education.  The  other  four  were  willing,  on  these  conditions :  take  the  chil- 
dren at  the  same  time,  but  ask  the  children  to  come  to  their  respective 
churches.  It  was  left  to  the  parents  to  request  the  public  school  authorities 
for  dismissal  of  the  child  to  a  particular  denominational  school.  For  a  year 
and  a  half  the  plan  has  worked  successfully.  The  cooperation  has  been  very 
limited  but  the  redeeming  feature  is  that  98  per  cent  of  the  possible  grade 
school  children  in  this  particular  community  are  now  enrolled  and  have  been 
for  a  year  and  a  half  in  week-day  religious  instruction.  The  local  church  type 
could  have  made  no  headway  in  this  community,  the  out-and-out  community 
type  can  never  be  possible  for  the  Roman  Catholics  and  the  Missouri  Synod 
Lutherans,  in  this  particular  city.  Consequently  the  local  conditions  de- 
termined the  type  of  school,  but  the  children  are  being  reached.  The  child 
and  what  we  aim  to  do  with  him  are  always  the  primary  considerations. 

This  particular  community  is  developing  methods  of  cooperation  which 
aim  to  standardize  the  work,  and  to  keep  all  of  the  schools  progressive.  They 
even  hope  to  have  a  community  school  including  the  Presbyterian,  Baptist 
and  Methodist  next  year,  where  the  children  will  be  taught  without  regard  to 
their  denominational  afifiliation.  But  the  only  step  that  could  be  taken  at  first 
was  denominational,  with  a  loose  type  of  cooperation. 

III.    THE  DISADVANTAGES  OF  THIS  TYPE 

1.  Usually  no  standardization.  As  Prof.  Shaver  pointed  out  in  his 
survey,  page  94,  April  Religious  Education,  the  widest  extremes  in  the 
quality  of  work  may  prevail  in  the  same  small  community.  The  churches 
have  not  agreed  on  what  shall  be  called  a  standard  of  work  or  effort. 
Neither  is  there  a  common  aim.  One  school  may  be  trying  to  socialize  its 
pupils  while  another  is  putting  all  of  its  effort  on  denominationalizing  or 
ritualizing,  or  catechizing  them.  ( It  must  be  interesting  to  hear  these  pupils 
talk  to  each  other  when  they  go  from  the  churches  to  the  public  schools  and 
whisper  to  each  other  what  they  have  been  doing  since  last  they  were  to- 
gether.) 

2.  Another  disadvantage  is  the  group-destroying  influence  of  this  type. 
At  a  certain  hour,  the  children  are  all  lined  up  by  the  public-school  teacher 
and  started  on  the  march  toward  the  churches.  They  start  out  as  members  of 
the  public  school,  where  grade  by  grade  a  group  consciousness  has  been 
developed.  As  they  march  on,  the  Baptists  drop  out  on  this  comer,  the 
Presbyterians  break  ranks  at  the  next  corner,  and  finally  some  lonely  church 
group  continues  on  its  brave  march  to  the  farthest  church.  Some  stand  and 
view  these  children  with  pride  as  they  march  to  religious  instruction.  But 
others  cast  a  tear  as  they  see  the  children  of  a  common  Father  but  adopted 
for  the  present  by  denominations  who  cannot  trust  their  care  to  a  common 
Father  but  who  must  train  them  according  to  the  faith  once  for  all  delivered 


126  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

to  the  saints.  But,  in  the  meantime,  we  must  be  loyal  to  the  denominations 
while  at  the  same  time  we  are  striving  for  new  groupings.  The  disadvantages 
mentioned  are  not  peculiar  to  the  schools  as  a  type.  They  are  the  common 
disadvantages  of  our  denominationalism. 

IV.     THE  ADVANTAGES  OF  THIS  TYPE 

When  we  turn  to  the  positive  side  of  the  argument,  there  is  much  of 
value. 

1.  This  is  the  only  type  of  week-day  religious  education  that  zvill  ever 
be  possible  in  many  communities.  The  presence  of  one  or  more  non-affiliat- 
ing religious  groups  in  a  community  prevents  a  complete  community  school. 
But  it  does  not  prevent  cooperation  to  the  extent  of  uniting  to  reach  all  of 
the  children  at  the  same  time. 

2.  This  type,  wherever  tried,  has  secured  an  almost  perfect  enrollment 
of  the  grade-school  pupils.  The  reason  is  evident.  All  of  the  churches  are 
in  it,  the  movement  becomes  a  mass  movement,  and  it  is  more  popular  to 
go  with  the  rest  to  church  school  than  to  stay  with  the  few  in  the  public 
school. 

3.  It  usually  brings  all  of  the  churches  of  a  particular  community  into 
the  movement.  The  motive  may  be  one  of  self-protection,  as  Prof.  Shaver 
suggested,  but  once  in  the  movement,  they  frequently  become  enthusiastic  on 
the  possibilities  of  this  additional  time. 

4.  It  secures  a  definite  religious  alignfnent  for  every  family  with  chil- 
dren of  school  age.  The  parents,  in  almost  every  instance  where  the 
cooperative-denominational  type  prevails,  actually  make  written  request  to 
the  school  authorities  for  the  dismissal  of  the  children.  The  parents  even 
go  farther  than  that,  they  make  a  choice  among  denominations.  A  religious 
census  of  the  town  is  quickly  and  thoroughly  secured. 

5.  It  tends  to  have  a  liberalising  influence  upon  the  minds  of  the  chil- 
dren. Going  to  their  respective  church  schools  and  back  to  the  public  school 
again  within  the  space  of  an  hour  and  a  half,  they  have  opportunity  to 
compare  childish  ideas  and  talk  over  what  each  has  been  doing.  And  they 
do  talk. 

6.  It  secures  a  great  many  teachers  and  trains  them  for  religious 
education.  This  system  requires  a  prodigality  of  teachers.  Since  so  many 
schools  and  grades  meet  at  the  same  hour,  the  whole  community  is  called 
upon  to  furnish  many  ex-public  school  teachers,  women  of  training  and 
ability  for  this  work.  It  is  true  they  are  volunteer  teachers  and  usually 
unpaid  or  only  slightly  so,  but  they  are  sacrificially  interested  in  their  work. 
Several  communities  using  this  type  of  school  have  secured  an  average  of  one 
teacher  for  every  thirteen  to  fifteen  pupils.  Not  all  of  these  teachers  can 
qualify  as  trained  teachers,  but  once  in  the  work  it  is  surprising  how  eagerly 
these  teachers  search  for  help  to  make  them  adequately  trained. 

7.  There  is  no  particular  financial  burden  in  this  type  of  church  school. 
Each  church  carries  its  own  burden.  Since  the  churches  are  the  meeting 
places,  and  the  church  equipment  is  already  supplied  or  is  being  supplied, 
there  is  no  heavy  financial  burden.  Each  church  has  a  local  pride  in  its 
own  school  which  makes  it  easy  to  secure  the  additional  funds  for  teachers 
and  texts  and  equipment.  At  the  same  time,  the  Sunday  school  is  reaping 
the  advantage  of  these  better  trained  teachers  and  more  adequate  equipment. 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  127 

8.  It  puts  the  responsibility  of  religious  education  upon  the  pastors. 
Too  many  pastors  have  been  luke  warm,  even  indifferent  and  cold  toward 
modern  reHgious  education.  Under  the  cooperative-denominational  type,  no 
pastor  in  the  community  can  longer  be  immune.  He  may  be  forced  into  the 
system,  but  it  proves  to  be  the  new  birth  of  many  a  pastor. 

9.  The  apparent  tendency  of  this  type  is  to  become  the  dominant  re- 
ligious force  of  the  community,  from  which  all  other  religious  forces  draw 
their  resources.  With  every  family  in  the  community  definitely  aligned  in 
some  religious  denomination,  the  pastors  and  workers  have  points  of  contact 
which  did  not  formerly  exist.  Results  of  worth-while  importance  are  com- 
ing in  the  communities  adopting  this  type,  which  indicate  that  a  more  efficient 
group  of  churches  is  the  immediate  result.  The  community  as  a  whole  has 
become  churched  as  never  before.  Sunday  school  enrollments  have  greatly 
increased,  religious  influences  are  being  brought  into  homes  which  were 
formerly  without  them,  Bibles  and  religious  books  are  making  their  appear- 
ance where  they  were  before  unknown,  and  in  those  churches  where  the 
socialized  ideal  of  religious  training  prevails,  more  children  are  being  trained 
in  actual  Christian  living  than  was  ever  thought  to  be  possible  in  this  century 
where  the  public  school  had  commandeered  nearly  all  of  the  child's  week-day 
hours. 

10.  Relation  to  Public  Schools.  There  must  be  supervision,  a  coopera- 
tive community  board  and  common  aims  or  the  schools  will  deteriorate  until 
they  lose  the  respect  of  both  the  community  and  the  public  school  system. 
This  board  needs  to  train  teachers,  adopt  aims,  and  in  every  way  possible, 
work  to  make  these  schools  what  their  name  implies — cooperative. 

A  few  years  ago  this  was  the  dominant  question  in  religious  circles : 
How  can  Protestants  get  more  time  for  religious  education;  and  a  question 
of  equal  importance  was,  how  can  we  reach  the  25,000,000  Protestant  chil- 
dren who  are  without  church  school  influence  ?  The  answer  has  come  quicker 
than  the  most  hopeful  ever  anticipated.  It  is  to  be  found  in  just  such  a  type 
of  week-day  school  as  described.  The  churches  cooperate,  secure  public 
school  time,  reach  almost  100  per  cent  of  the  pupils,  and  continue  to  progress 
in  aim  and  training  accordingly  as  they  truly  strive.  The  next  stage  in  the 
development  of  this  type  will  be  for  certain  neighborly  and  brotherly 
churches  to  form  a  union  school  where  better  results  can  be  secured. 


The  Maiden  Plan 

Walter  S.  Athearn,  M.  A.,  LL.  D.* 

The  so-called  "Maiden  Plan"  is  a  term  sometimes  applied  to  a  form  of 
community  organization  under  which  the  Protestant  Christian  citizens  of 
Maiden,  Massachusetts,  are  conducting  a  city-wide  program  of  religious  edu- 
cation. It  is  not,  as  indicated  by  Professor  Shaver  in  Religious  Education, 
April,  1922,  page  95,  the  name  of  a  type  of  week-day  religious  schools.  It  is 
rather  the  name  of  a  method  of  organization  and  control  of  a  city  system  of 
Protestant  religious  education.     The  distinguishing  features  of  the  plan  of 

•Walter  S.  Atheam,  Dean  of  Boston  University  School  of  Religious  Education  and  Social 
Service,  was  requested  to  present  a  ten-minute  brief  on  the  Maiden  Plan  of  organization  of  week- 
day schools  of  religion.    In  the  absence  of  Prof.  Athearn,  the  paper  was  read  by  Mr,  R.  L.  Waite. 


128  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

organization  in  operation  in  Maiden  may  be  best  shown  by  placing  it  over 
against  other  forms  of  community  organization  for  the  developing  of  relig- 
ious education.  There  are  four  types  of  community  organization  proposed 
for  the  consideration  of  communities  wishing  to  launch  cooperative  work  in 
religious  education. 

1.  The  Federal  Council  Type.  This  plan  proposes  to  operate  the 
cooperative  religious  education  work  of  a  community  under  a  religious  edu- 
cation committee,  which  is  one  of  a  number  of  coordinate  committees  of  the 
Federation  of  Churches  in  a  community.  This  is  comparable  to  the  operation 
of  a  system  of  public  schools  by  a  sub-committee  appointed  by  the  mayor  or 
by  the  town  council.  (For  an  exposition  of  this  plan  see  Guild,  Roy  B., 
Community  Programs  for  Cooperating  Churches.)  The  same  considerations 
which  caused  this  plan  to  be  abandoned  by  the  public  schools  operate  to 
render  it  of  doubtful  value  for  the  direction  of  church  schools. 

2.  The  Civic-Center  Plan.  This  plan  has  in  mind  the  entire  constitu- 
ency of  the  public  schools.  The  public  school  house  is  the  home  of  the 
organization.  The  civic-center  association  appoints  committees  for  various 
community  purposes,  among  them  cooperative  religious  education  programs. 
(This  plan  is  advocated  by  Dr.  Henry  F.  Cope  in  his  Education  for  Democ- 
racy, pages  21,  22.  See  also  Jackson,  H.  E.,  A  Community  Center  and  The 
Community  Church.) 

3.  The  Ecclesiastical-Control  Plan.  This  plan  proceeds  on  the  theory 
that  the  work  of  religious  education  is  the  responsibility  of  the  churches  and 
that  all  cooperative  work  in  this  field  shall  be  organized  in  such  a  way  as  to 
preserve  the  official,  ecclesiastical  control  of  the  various  religious  bodies  and 
their  approved  overhead  agencies.  It  denies  the  religious  education  workers 
in  the  several  churches  of  a  community  the  right  of  voluntary  assembly  and 
holds  that  the  churches  of  a  community  can  not  control  a  community  program 
of  religious  education  unless  they  control  it  officially,  as  ecclesiastical  bodies. 
Accordingly  this  plan  creates  a  community  board  of  religious  education  made 
up  of  official  delegates  appointed  by  the  official  organs  of  the  several  churches 
to  represent  their  interests  and  protect  their  rights  in  the  community  board 
or  council.  This  plan,  in  operation,  tends  to  foster  dissensions,  sectarian 
consciousness  and  rivalry.  It  fosters  reactionary  control.  It  makes  financing 
hard  and  by  pro-rating  expenses  to  local  church  boards  prevents  aggressive 
campaigns  for  large  budgets  and  finally  strangles  the  community  movement 
to  death  by  choking  off  its  revenue.  This  plan  also  enables  an  overhead 
denominational  board  to  break  up  any  community  organization  which  might 
not  be  acceptable  to  it.  The  demand  for  this  form  of  organization  does  not 
arise  from  tmthin  a  community ;  it  comes  from  agencies  outside  of  the  com- 
munity which  have  goods  to  sell  or  interests  to  protect.  This  plan  does  not 
lend  itself  to  stability  and  permanency.  It  could  hardly  administer  large 
systems  of  schools,  own  and  control  vested  funds,  buildings,  etc.,  or  stimulate 
the  professional  growth  of  teachers  and  supervisors. 

This  plan  finds  its  counterpart  in  "ward"  politics  of  the  old-time  political 
orgjtuization  of  cities.  Each  ward  has  its  official  representatives  who  sit  in 
the  common  council  of  the  city  to  work  and  vote  officially  for  the  good  of 
their  respective  wards.  The  evil  effects  of  this  system  are  well  known.  Tlie 
Ecclesiastical  Control  Plan  carries  into  community  work  in  religious  educa- 
tion the  seeds  of  dissensions  which  have  caused  a  more  democratic  system  to 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  129 

replace  the  ward-control  policy  in  our  progressive  American  municipalities. 
On  pages  94  and  95  of  his  report  (Religious  Education,  April,  1922)  Mr. 
Shaver  noted  evidences  of  these  tendencies,  but  it  did  not  occur  to  him  that 
these  defects  were  germane  to  the  type  of  control  which  he  found  worthy  of 
commendation  in  his  plans  2  and  3,  and  that  the  Maiden  Plan  which  he  in- 
correctly characterized  in  his  plan  4,  has  been  developed  to  avoid  the  defects 
and  guarantee  the  virtues  of  the  other  plans.  The  Ecclesiastical-Control 
Plan  fails  to  recognize  group  or  community  psychology  and  invariably  breaks 
down  in  actual  operation  as  soon  as  it  has  a  real  load  to  carry. 

4.  The  Protestant  Christian  Citizenship  Plan.  This  is  the  Maiden 
plan.  It  is  a  plan  by  which  the  public  sentiment  in  the  churches  in  the  local 
community  can  control  their  community  programs  of  religious  education. 
No  administration  can  succeed  in  a  community  if  it  is  run  contrary  to  the 
best  interests  and  wishes  of  the  local  churches  in  the  community.  Some  plans 
lend  themselves  to  the  development  of  the  local  churches  to  better  advantage 
than  others.  It  is  claimed  for  the  Protestant  Christian  Citizenship  Plan  that 
it  is  the  best  plan  yet  developed  to  promote  the  cooperative  educational  work 
of  the  local  churches  in  a  community.  It  lends  itself  to  stability  of  administra- 
tion, to  unity  and  harmony  of  all  community  interests.  It  is  not  correct  to 
assume  that  the  churches  can  not  control  a  movement  unless  they  do  so 
"officially."  It  is  well  known  that  the  body  of  progressive  public  sentiment 
within  a  local  church  is  sometimes  unable  to  control  the  local  church  because 
of  a  form  of  church  organization  which  does  not  lend  itself  to  a  ready 
response  to  the  popular  will.  The  Protestant  Christian  Citizenship  Plan 
enables  the  members'hip  of  all  churches  to  exercise  absolute  control  of  their 
community  programs.  The  Ecclesiastical-Control  Plan  tends  to  prevent  local 
churches  from  controlling  their  community  programs  and  puts  the  control 
not  in  the  local  churches  but  in  agencies  outside  of  the  community. 

Professor  Shaver  on  page  95  of  his  report  draws  inferences  which  are 
grossly  illogical  and  which  shows  as  well  an  entire  misconception  of  the 
Maiden  Plan.  He  knows  very  well  that  the  failure  of  the  Evanston,  Illinois, 
schools  was  due  to  causes  which  were  not  related  in  any  way  to  the  form  of 
community  organization,  and  that  the  reorganization  under  another  form  of 
community  control  has  not  solved  the  problems  of  week-day  religious  schools. 
Professor  Shaver  knows  also  that  the  temporary  suspension  of  the  Maiden 
High  School  of  Religion  was  in  no  way  related  to  the  form  of  community 
control.  He  knows  also  that  at  the  time  the  high  school  was  temporarily 
suspended  the  Maiden  Plan  was  conducting  many  other  forms  of  community 
religious  education  with  signal  success  and  without  denominational  discord 
of  any  kind.  In  fact,  there  has  never  been  a  single  note  of  denominational 
discord  under  the  Maiden  Plan  in  Maiden.  The  plan  lends  itself  to  denomi- 
national cooperation. 

ELEMENTS  IN  THE  MALDEN  PLAN 

This  plan  has  as  its  basic  organization  a  Community  Council  of  Religious 
Education  which  enrolls,  on  a  voluntary  basis,  as  many  Protestant  Christian 
Citizens  of  the  community  as  possible.  All  ministers,  Sunday-school  super- 
intendents, church  school  teachers  and  officers  and  as  many  active  church 
workers  as  can  be  interested  in  the  cause  of  religious  education  are  enlisted 
in  the  membership  of  this  Council.     The  Council  is  to  this  movement  what 


130  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

the  New  England  town-meeting  is  to  the  municipal  government  of  a  New 
England  village.  This  Council  is  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  the  state 
as  an  educational  institution  just  as  is  Boston  University,  Harvard  and  Yale. 
It  can  sue  and  be  sued,  hold,  acquire  and  dispose  of  property,  receive  be- 
quests, etc.  This  Council  elects  a  Board  of  Directors  which  is  its  executive 
agent.  It  also  creates  commissions  which  study  problems  of  local  interest 
and  report  to  the  Council.  The  Board  of  Directors  elects  a  City  Superin- 
tendent of  Religious  Education  who  guides  the  city  in  the  development  of  a 
complete  city  system  of  religious  education.  A  system  of  week-day  religious 
schools  constitutes  but  one  of  a  number  of  activities  and  agencies  which  are 
essential  to  the  success  of  a  city  system  of  religious  education.  In  fact,  the 
success  of  a  system  of  week-day  religious  schools  depends  in  large  measure 
on  factors  which  are  not  connected  with  these  schools  directly. 
The  Maiden  Plan  now  has  in  successful  operation: 

1.  A  Normal  School  for  the  training  of  church  school  teachers, — now 
completing  its  sixth  consecutive  year. 

2.  A  System  of  Community  Music  and  Pageantry, — invaluable  in 
creating  community  religious  ideals. 

3.  A  Department  of  Surveys.  The  objective  data  has  been  gathered 
for  the  intelligent  building  of  community  programs. 

4.  Professional  Conferences.  These  conferences  of  the  church  school 
workers  of  the  city  have  met  quarterly  for  five  years.  They  are  creating 
a  genuine  professional  spirit  among  the  workers  in  the  local  churches.  The 
most  enthusiastic  supporters  of  the  week-day  schools  are  these  progressive 
local  workers  in  the  Sunday-schools  of  the  city. 

5.  Older  Boys'  and  Older  Girls'  Councils.  These  Councils  of  the  older 
boys  and  girls  have  for  their  purpose  the  organizing  of  the  youth  of  the  city 
around  its  churches. 

6.  A  system  of  Week-day  Religious  Schools. 

7.  An  educational  program  under  local  church  management  in  con- 
nection with  each  church  in  the  city. 

(The  Maiden  Plan  has  been  described  in  detail  in  my  book,  A  National 
System  of  Education.) 

HISTORY  AND  ACHIEVEMENTS 

Maiden,  Massachusetts,  is  a  suburb  of  Boston.  It  has  a  population  of 
about  50,000,  of  which  28,000  are  Protestant  or  nominally  Protestant.  12,000 
are  Catholics  and  10,000  are  Jews.  The  Protestant  Church  membership 
numbers  about  6,000.  There  are  17  Protestant  churches,  four  of  which  are 
non-English  speaking.  It  is  a  cosmopolitan  suburb  with  many  important 
industries.  It  is  hard  to  conceive  of  a  difficulty  which  this  New  England 
city  does  not  present  to  those  who  would  develop  a  community  program  of 
religious  education. 

The  Maiden  Council  of  Religious  Education  was  organized  under  the 
direction  of  the  writer  six  years  ago.  It  has  had  a  continuous  existence 
under  the  same  leadership  for  the  whole  period  of  its  history.  The  idea 
was  planted  in  the  city  and  the  present  organization  has  grown  up  from  within 
the  city.  The  growth  has  not  been  forced.  The  people  have  argued  and 
debated  their  own  problems ;  they  have  studied  the  problems  as  their  own 
problems.    They  believe  in  the  objects  and  methods  which  they  have  helped 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  131 


to  develop.  Many  strong  local  leaders  have  been  developed  who  are  assets 
to  the  community  as  well  as  to  their  local  churches.  Every  cooperating 
church,  and  that  includes  them  all,  is  stronger  because  of  the  presence  of  the 
Maiden  Plan. 

The  annual  budget  has  grown  from  $250  the  first  year  to  $13,000  for  the 
current  year.  The  first  five  years  were  used  to  create  an  organization  and  a 
setting  in  which  to  place  the  last  unit  in  the  system — week-day  religious 
schools.  During  the  current  year  these  schools  have  been  inaugurated. 
There  is  now  in  successful  operation  one  grade  school  and  two  junior  high 
schools.  All  teachers  are  college  graduates  who  have  majored  in  religious 
education.  There  is  daily  supervision  of  class-room  work  and  all  lesson  out- 
lines must  be  approved  before  the  lessons  are  taught.  There  is  a  supervisor 
of  music  and  worship.  Every  child  in  the  system  has  been  given  an  intelli- 
gence test.  A  system  of  records  and  reports  is  being  developed.  The  edu- 
cational directors  have  been  planning  the  curricula  for  several  years  and  all 
lesson  material  is  being  carefully  developed.  It  is  confidently  expected  that 
week-day  religious  schools  will  become  an  integral  part  of  the  educational 
program  of  Maiden  just  as  rapidly  as  resources  and  trained  leadership  can  be 
developed.  The  united  cooperation  of  all  the  churches  of  the  city  which 
has  made  possible  the  phenomenal  achievement  of  the  past  six  years  may  be 
counted  upon  to  insure  the  continued  success  of  the  movement. 


The  City  System  of  Week-Day  Schools 

William  G.  Seaman* 

We  are  all  agreed  that  all  the  types  of  organization  for  week-day  schools 
have  their  place  and,  among  them,  certainly  is  the  one  I  am  to  discuss.  I 
should  like  the  privilege  of  changing  the  title  somewhat,  for  I  wish  to  speak 
not  of  the  city  alone.  The  present  title  might  leave  a  wrong  impression, 
namely,  that  this  type  is  applicable  only  to  the  city.  May  I,  therefore,  call 
it  the  "Community  System"?  For  I  think  it  is  applicable  to  a  rural  region 
as  well  as  to  a  city. 

The  two  types :  the  school  of  the  individual  congregation  and  the  com- 
munity type,  are  not  necessarily  exclusive.  For  instance,  it  is  now  possible 
to  provide,  in  some  places,  for  two  hours  a  week  of  week-day  religious  in- 
struction, but  there  are  more  hours  we  could  have  if  we  had  the  resources 
to  train  the  children,  and  I  am  wondering  if,  along  with  the  community 
effort,  there  is  not  a  place  for  an  effort  by  the  individual  church.  It  depends 
somewhat  upon  our  emphasis  which  we  will  put  first.  If  we  feel:  Here  is 
the  child,  and  every  child  has  the  need  for  religion,  and  has  the  right  that 
religion  should  be  brought  to  bear  upon  his  life ;  if  we  feel  that,  the  great 
passion  in  our  lives,  we  shall  then,  perhaps,  work  from  the  community  point 
of  view.  If  on  the  other  hand,  we,  feel,  here  are  the  children  of  our  own 
church  and  we  wish  to  make  them  efficient  members  of  an  organization  that 
shall  bring  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth, — if  that  is  our  aim,  we  shall  feel 
the  need  for  the  individual  church  school.  Ought  we  not  to  have  both?  I 
can  assure  you,  nothing  but  lack  of  resources  has  kept  my  own  congregation 
from  having  a  school  of  its  own  during  the  week  for  taking  our  own  chil- 

*The  Rev.  William  G.   Seaman,  Chairman  of  the  Board  of   Religious  Education,   Gary,   Indiana; 
a  stenographic  report  of  his  address  at  the  Conference. 


1S2  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

dren  and  striving  to  make  them  just  what  the  training  camps  tried  to  make 
the  soldiers.  They  were  American  citizens  before,  but  they  tried  to  make 
them  efficient  parts  of  a  great  organization  to  drive  back  the  forces  of  evil. 
In  like  manner  every  congregation  should  train  its  children  for  a  war  of 
conquest  to  take  the  whole  of  society  for  Christ. 

Now  as  to  advantages  in  the  community  system :  First,  there  is  the 
financial  advantage.  There  is  no  wasting  of  funds  in  overlapping ;  and,  then, 
you  may  command  larger  resources.  You  may  make  an  appeal  to  some 
people  you  could  not  appeal  to  otherwise. 

Second,  there  is  a  geographical  advantage  in  a  community  of  any  size 
because,  quite  likely,  the  churches  are,  as  they  are  with  us,  centered  at 
certain  places,  and  there  are  public  schools  not  easy  to  reach  from  any 
church.  A  very  distinct  advantage  in  the  community  type  lies  in  the  fact 
that  it  can  locate  its  school  rooms  near  every  public  school. 

Third,  there  is  a  numerical  advantage.  If  we  could  have  the  schools 
of  individual  churches  along-side  public  schools  and  run  them  on  a  broad 
gauge,  they  could  secure  the  attendance  of  most  of  the  children,  but,  after 
all,  there  are  some  people  a  little  hostile  to  denominationalism  about  that, 
and  the  public-school  authorities  cannot  lend  themselves  to  advocating  a 
school  that  is  denominational.  I  think  you  will  feel  the  force  of  that.  So 
far  as  my  experience  goes  the  public-school  men  are  quite  as  interested  as 
we  are,  and  the  public  school  men  can  lend  themselves  whole-heartedly  to 
a  school  of  a  community-system  type, — one  that  is  not  at  all  denominational. 
This  helps  to  secure  the  attendance  of  children  who  could  not  be  reached 
otherwise.  We  tried  in  one  school  to  see  how  large  a  percent  of  the  children 
we  could  secure,  and  we  reached  just  one  hundred  percent.  Practically  all 
of  the  children  can  be  reached  therefore,  where  there  is  no  denominational- 
ism in  the  school. 

Fourth,  there  is  a  very  decided  advantage  by  way  of  educational  stand- 
ards in  the  community  effort.  You  can  command  full-time  teachers.  There 
are  not  many  communities  in  America  where  the  individual  church  could 
get  the  children  at  such  times  as  to  make  the  employment  of  a  full-time 
teacher  practical.  And  the  salaried,  thoroughly  trained,  full-time  teacher  is 
the  key  to  educational  standards.  On  no  other  basis  can  our  teaching  of 
religion  and  morals  be  put  in  as  high  a  basis  as  is  the  teaching  of  secular 
subjects  in  our  public  schools. 

After  all,  the  great  advantage  of  the  community  type  of  school  lies 
in  the  spiritual  results.  If  I  understand  Prof.  Shaver  in  his  Survey,  he  says 
the  teaching  in  the  community  school  is  somewhat  thin.  I  should  like  to 
dififer  and  say  I  think  exactly  the  opposite  is  true.  The  things  that  separate 
us  are  the  things  that  are  decidedly  thin.  The  things  in  which  we  are  united 
are  the  things  which  are  fundamental.  There  is  absolutely  no  necessity, 
from  the  experiences  I  have  had,  of  having  anything  thin  in  the  teaching 
at  all.  I  heard  a  great  Russian  speaking  about  his  people  some  years  ago 
who  asked,  "What  can  you  expect  of  a  people  to  whom  the  great  question 
is  whether  the  cross  shall  be  made  with  three  fingers  or  two  ?"  We  may  ask 
with  equal  force,  "What  can  you  expect  when  we  are  emphasizing  certain 
small  things  that  separate  us?"  Jesus  spoke  of  a  distinctive  value  in  unity. 
He  prayed  that  we  might  be  one  that  "they  might  believe."  Unity  in  re- 
ligion has  great  apologetic  value.  That  is  one  of  the  biggest  things  in  the 
community  type  of  school  for  religious  training. 


Week-day  Church  Schools  of  the  Individual 
Church  Type 

Walter  Albion  Squires* 

I.  DeHnition.  The  Individual  Church  Type  of  week-day  church  school 
is  that  in  which  week-day  religious  instruction  is  offered  to  pupils  of  public 
school  age,  at  least  one  hour  a  week,  and  approximately  throughout  the 
public  school  year,  by  an  individual  church  which  has  no  plan  for  co-oper- 
ation with  other  churches  for  the  giving  of  such  instruction.  Under  this 
plan  the  giving  of  week-day  religious  instruction  is  a  part  of  the  educational 
program  of  the  individual  church  in  the  same  sense  as  the  giving  of  religious 
instruction  in  the  Sunday  school  is  a  part  of  its  educational  program.  The 
individual  church  decides  upon  a  course  of  study  for  the  week-day  classes, 
appoints  the  supervisory  agencies,  selects  the  teachers,  and  raises  the  funds 
necessary  to  carry  on  the  work. 

II.  Growth  of  this  Type  of  Week-Day  Church  School.  A  careful 
analysis  of  the  plans  of  organization  in  the  cities  now  carrying  on  week-day 
religious  instruction  shows  that  in  a  majority  of  cases  the  week-day  church 
schools  are  of  the  Individual  Church  Type.  In  fact,  this  type  is  quite  evi- 
dently out-stripping  all  others.  The  more  rapid  growth  of  the  Individual 
Church  Type  of  week-day  church  schools  may  be  due,  in  part,  to  the  fact 
that  this  type  is  comparatively  less  difificult  to  inaugurate  than  any  of  the 
other  types.  It  is  probably  true,  however,  that  the  rapid  development  of  the 
Individual  Church  Type  of  week-day  church  schools  is  likewise  due,  in  part, 
to  certain  distinct  advantages  which  it  possesses  over  other  types  of  week- 
day church  schools. 

III.  Advantages  of  the  Individual  Church  Type  of  Wcek-Day  Church 
Schools.  The  determining  of  the  question  as  to  just  which  type  of  week- 
day church  school  is  best  suited  to  any  particular  community  is  a  matter 
of  importance  demanding  careful  thought  and  wide  investigation  of  the  local 
conditions.  That  any  one  type  of  organization  should  be  held  up  as  the  ideal 
and  all  other  types  discredited  is  an  attitude  to  be  avoided  by  all  who  are 
sincerely  friendly  to  the  movement  for  week-day  religious  instruction. 
Different  communities  demand  different  types  of  organization.  It  is  alto- 
gether probable  that  we  have  not  yet  hit  upon  the  type  best  suited  to  our 
American  communities,  in  general.  The  movement  has  proved  to  be  capable 
of  very  wide  adaptation  and  we  should  endeavor  to  keep  it  so.  There  is 
great  need  for  the  setting  up  of  standards  in  certain  phases  of  the  work,  but 
we  are  not  yet  ready  for  the  exalting  of  any  one  type  as  the  standard.  It 
will  be  understood,  therefore,  that  the  enumeration  of  certain  elements  of 
strength  in  the  type  of  week-day  church  school  we  are  considering,  is  not 
intended  as  adverse  and  unfriendly  criticism  of  other  types  of  week-day 
church  schools. 

1.  This  type  of  zveek-day  church  school  azvakcns  deep  and  ztnde  inter- 
est zvithin  the  membership  of  the  individual  church.  Churches  feel  that  a 
week-day  church  school  of  this  type  is  their  own  enterprise.  That  sense  of 
responsibility  which  is  necessary  for  the  success  and  permanence  of  the 

"Director  of  WeekDay  Religious  School  for  the  Presbyterian   Board  of  Publications  and  Sunday 
Schools,   Philadelphia,    Pa. 

133 


134  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

week-day  church  school  enterprise  is  developed.  Financial  support  is  thus 
rendered  possible  and  the  work  placed  on  a  sound  basis.  A  meager  and 
uncertain  financial  support  has  been  one  of  the  greatest  handicaps  of  the 
week-day  church  school  movement  thus  far,  and  there  seems  to  be  no 
remedy  for  the  evil  other  than  in  binding  the  movement  so  closely  to  the 
churches  that  they  will  look  upon  the  giving  of  week-day  religious  instruc- 
tion as  one  of  their  primary  tasks ;  a  task  too  important  to  be  neglected,  or 
to  be  delegated  to  any  other  body  unless  guarantees  are  forthcoming  as  to 
the  efficiency  with  which  the  work  will  be  done. 

2.  This  type  of  week-day  church  school  makes  it  possible  for  the  in- 
dividual church  to  put  on  a  unified  and  efficient  program  of  religious  instruc- 
tion. A  lack  of  correlation  has  been  one  of  the  most  serious  defects  in  the 
educational  program  of  the  church.  The  educational  agencies  of  the  Church 
have  grown  up  independently  of  one  another  and  they  exist  side  by  side  in 
the  same  church  and  have  hardly  a  speaking  acquaintance  with  each  other. 
The  time  available  for  religious  instruction  is  meager  at  best,  and  our  re- 
ligious educational  agencies  must  be  correlated,  or  we  shall  waste  even  the 
little  time  we  have.  A  half  dozen  religious  educational  agencies  in  a  single 
church,  each  with  its  own  program  and  no  adjustment  with  the  programs 
of  other  agencies,  and  all  seeking  to  reach  and  instruct  the  same  children, 
makes  a  situation  pedagogically  unfavorable  that  little  of  real  instruction, 
or  of  genuine  nurture  can  be  attained.  Is  the  week-day  church  school  to  be 
only  another  of  these  unrelated  agencies  for  religious  education  added  to  a 
situation  already  bad?  If  such  is  the  case,  we  may  be  sure  that  the  benefits 
we  are  hoping  from  the  movement  will  not  be  fully  realized. 

But  such  an  outcome  of  the  week-day  religious  education  movement 
is  not  at  all  necessary.  We  ought  not  to  allow  it  to  occur.  The  movement 
offers  an  unprecedented  opportunity  to  raise  the  educational  program  of  the 
Church  to  a  high  status  of  efficiency.  Week-day  religious  instruction  offers 
a  central  and  unifying  principle  about  which  the  whole  educational  program 
of  the  Church  may  be  arranged  in  such  a  way  as  to  secure  a  larger  and 
better  organization  of  this  work  than  the  Protestant  Church  has  ever  known. 

The  need  of  the  hour  is  for  a  unified  course  of  study  and  a  compre- 
hensive program  of  activities  for  the  children  and  youth  of  the  church. 
Portions  of  this  course  of  study  should  be  assigned  to  the  Sunday  school, 
other  portions  to  the  week-day  church  school,  other  portions  to  the  expres- 
sional  organizations.  Such  organizations  as  the  Christian  Endeavor  societies 
should  be  the  agencies  for  carrying  over  into  the  lives  of  the  pupils  the  in- 
struction given  in  Sunday  school  and  week-day  church  school,  rather  than, 
as  they  are  at  present,  independent  agencies,  with  an  expressional  program 
based  on  the  meager  information  they  are  able  to  provide  in  their  own 
limited  time  allowance.  Under  the  plan  suggested  the  Sunday  sessions 
could  be  made  largely  devotional  and  thus  valuable  training  in  worship 
could  be  provided.  The  week-day  sessions  could  be  largely  informational. 

3.  This  type  of  iveek-day  church  school  zvill  help  the  individual  church 
to  reach  and  hold  children  and  young  people  who  are  now  spiritually 
neglected.  Experience  has  shown  that  the  week-day  church  school  is  able 
to  reach  many  children  the  Sunday  schools  have  failed  to  reach.  The  larger 
and  more  efficient  the  educational  program  of  the  individual  church  the 
more  certain  it  is  that  the  children  of  its  constituency  will  be  reached  and 
held.    Twenty-five  millions  of  children  and  youth  of  Protestant  lineage  are 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  135 

outside  of  the  churches  and  Sunday  schools  because  the  educational  policy 
of  Protestantism  has  been,  on  the  whole,  hazy  in  its  conception,  halting  in 
its  activities,  and  inefficient  in  its  methods.  The  week-day  church  school 
movement,  if  it  fulfills  its  mission,  must  do  something  more  than  add  a 
modicum  of  time  to  that  already  available  for  religious  instruction.  It  must 
do  something  more  than  add  another  agency  to  the  number  already  existing. 
It  must  reorganize  the  whole  system  of  religious  education,  not  only  making 
more  time  for  religious  instruction  available,  but  enabling  us  to  use  to  better 
advantage  the  time  we  already  possess. 

4.  This  type  of  week-day  church  school  enables  the  Church  to  offer 
a  completed  religious  education  to  all  its  children  and  youth.  The  religious 
education  provided  by  the  Protestant  Churches  of  America  has  been  griev- 
ously incomplete.  It  has  been  too  largely  of  the  abstract  information  kind. 
A  complete  religious  education  must  include  not  only  information  but  like- 
wise training  in  worship,  and  practice  in  Christian  living.  In  a  church 
school  having  Sunday,  week-day,  and  expressional  sessions,  it  is  entirely 
possible  to  so  arrange  the  program  of  instruction,  worship,  and  expression 
that  all  phases  of  the  religious  educational  process  will  receive  adequate 
and  proportional  emphasis.  In  our  present  situation  where  independent 
religious  educational  agencies  exist  side  by  side  within  the  local  church  and 
each  tries  to  cover  the  whole  field  of  educational  activity,  a  thorough  and 
proportionate  emphasis  of  all  the  steps  of  the  religious  educational  process 
is  impossible. 

IV.  Some  Defects  of  the  Individual  Church  Type  of  Week-Day  Church 
Schools.  As  has  already  been  said,  this  type  of  week-day  church  schools  is 
not  offered  as  the  ideal.  It  has  certain  elements  of  strength,  but  also  certain 
elements  of  weakness.  Its  weakness  lies  in  the  danger  that  under  the  plan 
religious  education  will  be  looked  upon  as  a  purely  denominational  task, 
whereas  it  is  in  part  a  denominational  task,  in  part  a  community  task.  The 
cause  of  religious  education  has  been  woefully  hampered  in  our  country 
by  the  lack  of  interdenominational  co-operation.  The  distribution  of 
religious  educational  agencies  is  remarkably  faulty  because  denominations 
have  not  conferred  with  one  another  in  the  planting  of  churches  and  Sunday 
schools.  It  is  evident  that  if  the  Individual  Church  Type  of  week-day 
church  schools  is  to  become  the  standard  for  our  country,  it  must  be  supple- 
mented by  some  form  of  interdenominational  community  organization  which 
will  have  at  least  advisory  oversight  over  the  work  of  religious  instruction 
in  the  churches  and  which  will  have  full  control  of  such  matters  as  the  plant- 
ing of  new  church  school  enterprises. 


The  Preparation  and  Training  of  Teachers  for 
Week-Day  Schools 

Marion  Olive  Hawthorne* 

Any  discussion  of  the  preparation  and  training  of  teachers  for  week- 
day religious  instruction  involves  first  of  all  a  careful  study  of  the  teaching 
function.  Such  a  study  helps  to  define  objectives  and  to  determine  pro- 
cedure to  be  employed  in  the  selection,  training  and  supervision  of  teachers. 
It  also  assists  the  teacher  in  analyzing  and  thus  coming  to  understand  his 
task. 

The  teaching  function  consists  of  five  distinct,  but  closely  related 
factors,  as  follows: 

1.  Defining  aims.  The  teacher  of  religion  must  have  a  clear  under- 
standing of  the  ultimate  and  proximate  aims  of  religious  education,  and 
their  relation  to  the  aims  of  education  in  general.  He  must  be  able  to  define 
the  objectives  of  his  own  task  in  the  light  of  and  in  keeping  with  those 
broader  aims  so  that  his  objectives  may  be  progressively  realized  in  the 
lives  of  his  pupils  and  in  the  society  in  which  his  pupils  live.  These  ob- 
jectives must  be  specific,  definite  and  stated  in^termis  of  the  interests,  needs 
and  capacity  of  the  pupils  taught  on  the  one  hand,  and  in  terms  of  the  de- 
mands of  society  on  the  other. 

2.  Determining  and  evaluating  means,  subject  matter  and  activities. 
The  teacher  of  religion  must  be  able  to  select,  evaluate  and  organize  the 
means  to  be  employed  according  to  the  following  principles : 

(1)  The  child  is  the  determining  factor  in  the  process,  and  the  means 
to  be  used  in  his  religious  education  must  not  only  be  selected  with  reference 
to  him,  but  they  must  also  be  adapted  to  his  enlarging  interests,  needs  and 
capacity. 

(2)  Only  those  means  should  be  employed  which  find  a  point  of  con- 
tact in  the  experience  of  the  child — that  can  be  translated  into  his  daily  life. 

(3)  The  sources  from  which  the  means  are  selected  must  be  in  har- 
mony with  the  sources  from  which  the  means  of  general  education  are 
selected. 

3.  Relating  the  mind  of  the  child  to  the  aims  sought  and  to  the  means 
employed.  A  knowledge  of  the  mind  of  the  child  is  an  essential  part  of  the 
teacher's  preparation,  in  order  to  secure  the  proper  relation  between  the 
mind  of  the  child  and  the  aims  sought  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  mind  of  the 
child  and  the  means  employed  on  the  other.  The  teacher  must  bear  in  mind, 
however,  that  this  relation  of  the  mind  of  the  child  to  the  aims  and  means 
involves  not  only  the  adaptation  of  the  means  to  the  learner,  but  the  adapta- 
tion of  the  learner  to  the  means  as  well. 

4.  Developing  technique.  Herein  is  involved  an  understanding  of  the 
sources  from  which  method  in  teaching  is  derived,  so  that  the  teacher  may 
discover  method  for  himself.  These  sources  are  the  aims,  the  means  and 
the  mind  of  the  child.  Skill  in  the  technique  of  teaching  comes  only  with 
study  and  practice — study  of  the  aims,  the  means,  the  mind  of  the  child  and 

•Department    of    Religious    Education,     NorthwcFtern     University.       A    paper    prepared     for    the 
Seventh    Session   of   the   conference   as   Week-Day   Religious    Education. 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  137 

practice  in  the  use  of  methods  derived  from  these  sources  to  secure  the 
desired  results. 

5.  Securing  and  testing  results.  Before  one  can  either  secure  or  test 
results,  there  must  be  knowledge  as  to  the  nature  of  the  results  desired.  The 
ability  to  secure  results  depends  for  the  most  part  upon  the  technique  em- 
ployed, whereas  the  testing  of  results  involves  certain  definite  standards 
inherent  in  the  aims,  the  means  and  the  mind  of  the  child.  The  results  of 
the  teaching  process  must  be  secured  and  tested  in  terms  of  fruitful  knowl- 
edge lodged  in  the  mind  of  the  child,  interests,  ideals,  attitudes  and  motives 
developed  and  habits  and  skills  acquired  in  daily  living. 

This  discussion  of  the  function  of  teaching  makes  possible  a  clear 
definition  of  the  aims  to  be  sought  in  the  preparation  and  training  of  teach- 
ers. Professor  Stout  in  his  "Organization  and  Administration  of  Religious 
Education"  says,  "The  inclusive  purpose  is  to  develop  right  attitudes  and 
ideals,  to  cultivate  intelligent  interests,  to  impart  fruitful  knowledge  and 
to  develop  useful  skills."  A  study  of  this  inclusive  aim  of  teacher  training 
reveals  four  immediate  aims,  as  follows : 

1.  To  develop  a  professional  attitude  toward  the  task  of  teaching, 
realizing  that  teaching  religion  is  just  as  important  and  vital  as  teaching 
any  other  subject.  Therefore,  it  requires  the  same  attitude,  training  and 
skill. 

2.  To  cultivate  intelligent  interest  in  the  teaching  function,  in  the  task 
itself,  in  the  means  used  and  the  pupils  taught. 

3.  To  impart  fruitful  knowledge  as  to  the  aims  of  religious  education, 
the  means  to  be  used,  technique  to  be  employed  and  the  interests,  needs  and 
capacity  of  the  pupils  being  taught. 

4.  To  develop  skill  in  the  technique  of  teaching  by  imparting  knowl- 
edge as  to  how  to  teach  and  by  providing  opportunities  for  the  observation 
of  teaching  and  for  practice  in  teaching  under  supervision. 

These  inclusive  and  proximate  goals  determine  very  largely  the  curri- 
culum of  teacher  training,  which  must  be  thought  of  in  terras  of  general 
and  professional  or  technical  courses. 

The  general  courses  provide  the  necessary  foundation  for  the  teacher's 
further  preparation.  Courses  in  Bible,  psychology,  history,  literature,  art 
and  music  constitute  the  cultural  and  educational  background  for  a  more 
specialized  training  in  the  art  of  teaching.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  a  teacher 
of  religion  is  greatly  handicapped  without  a  thorough  knowledge  of  these 
fundamental  subjects.  On  the  other  hand,  he  is  equally  handicapped  if  his 
preparation  consists  chiefly  of  this  general  background  and  lacks  the  neces- 
sary professional  training. 

The  professional  or  technical  courses  should  furnish  definite  knowledge 
as  to  how  to  teach  and  should  provide  an  opportunity  for  the  observation  of 
good  teaching  and  for  practice  in  teaching  under  supervision.  A  statement 
as  to  the  nature  of  such  courses  follows : 

1.  Inasmuch  as  all  instruction  must  be  adapted  to  the  mind  of  the 
learner,  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the  teacher  of  religion  pursue 
systematic  courses  dealing  with  the  psychology  of  his  pupils.  He  dare  not 
depend  upon  casual  observations  to  gain  this  fundamental  knowledge,  but 
he  must  acquire  it  by  means  of  carefully  directed  courses  dealing  with  the 
psychology  of  childhood  and  youth. 


138  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

2.  An  intensive  study  in  the  field  of  curriculum  is  a  fundamental  part 
of  the  teacher's  professional  training,  first  for  the  purpose  of  securing  gen- 
eral knowledge  as  to  the  whole  range  of  curriculum,  and  second,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  securing  knowledge  as  to  the  principles  underlying  the  selection, 
evaluation  and  organization  of  subject  matter.  The  teacher  of  religion 
must  make  a  careful  study  of  the  subject  matter  to  be  used  in  his  own  grade 
and  endeavor  to  relate  it  not  only  to  the  subject  matter  used  in  the  other 
grades  of  his  school,  but  to  the  subject  matter  of  general  education  as  well. 

3.  Assuming  that  the  teacher  understands  the  needs  and  capacities  of 
his  pupils  and  that  he  is  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  subject  matter  he 
is  to  teach,  we  conceive  the  next  step  in  his  training  to  be  the  development 
of  the  technique  of  teaching.  He  needs,  first  of  all,  a  course  in  general 
method  which  will  help  him  to  discover  the  sources  from  which  method  may 
be  derived,  namely,  the  aims,  the  means,  the  mind  of  the  child.  Method  in 
teaching  is  chiefly  a  matter  of  adaptation,  but  courses  in  special  method  help 
to  make  this  adaptation  possible.  The  teacher  of  religion  needs  courses 
dealing  with  methods  adapted  to  different  ages  and  for  the  teacher  of  chil- 
dren, training  in  story-telling  and  methods  of  dramatization  is  quite  indis- 
pensable. 

4.  The  principle  that  one  learns  to  do  by  doing  is  applicable  to  the 
field  of  teacher-training.  One  learns  to  teach  by  teaching,  not  only  by  teach- 
ing, but  by  correct  teaching.  It  is  highly  important  that  the  teacher  have 
ample  opportunity  for  the  observation  of  good  teaching,  providing  such 
observation  be  carefully  planned  and  directed.  Actual  teaching  under  com- 
petent supervision  is  a  vital  part  of  the  teacher's  training,  but  the  utmost 
care  must  be  exercised  at  this  point  to  make  both  the  observation  of  teaching 
and  practice  teaching  contribute  to  the  fullest  extent  in  the  teacher's  training. 

It  might  well  be  said  that  the  general  and  professional  training  of  a 
teacher  avails  little  unless  that  teacher  possesses  the  personal  and  spiritual 
equipment  that  conditions  his  effectiveness  as  a  teacher.  There  must  be  a 
capacity  for  growth  and  that  warmth  of  personality  which  only  the  quest 
for  the  best  in  life  can  develop.  Above  all,  the  teacher  of  religion  must 
possess  a  satisfactory,  contagious  religious  experience  that  makes  religion 
vital  and  attractive  to  those  whom  he  teaches. 


Training  and  Qualification  of  Workers  in  Week-Day 
Religious  Education 

Charles  M.  Brunson* 

The  securing  of  a  sufficient  number  of  ideally  trained  and  qualified 
teachers  for  the  work  in  Week-Day  Religious  Instruction  is  an  impossibility 
at  the  present  time.  The  securing  of  adequately  trained  teachers  is  the 
biggest  problem  in  the  public  schools  as  well.  In  spite  of  the  large  number 
of  training  schools  in  this  country,  the  number  of  teachers  trained  is  far 
short  of  the  demand  for  them  and  always  will  be  until  inducements  in  the 
way  of  salary  increases  are  in  proper  proportions. 

Our  problem  of  securing  a  teaching  force  is  linked  very  closely  with 
the  public-school  problem.  The  situation  has  been  especially  difficult  during 
the  last  five  years  on  account  of  a  lack  of  numbers  of  teachers  properly 
trained.  Where  the  finances  will  warrant  and  the  time  of  holding  classes 
will  permit  the  employment  of  teachers  for  full  time,  the  problem  is  greatly 
simplified  ;  but  where  neither  of  these  conditions  obtains,  the  problem  becomes 
largely  one  of  scouting  through  the  community  and  finding  people — married 
women  for  the  greater  part — who  have  had  both  training  and  experience  in 
the  public  school.  These,  with  a  few  additions  from  the  ranks  of  the  min- 
istry and  a  few  persons  with  good  experience  in  Sunday  school,  constitute 
the  teaching  body  in  the  community  in  which  the  writer  has  directed  this 
work  during  the  last  four  and  a  half  years. 

All  of  us  realize,  of  course,  that  much  temporizing  has  been  done  in 
these  schools.  But  the  time  is  fast  approaching  when  much  larger  plans 
must  be  made.  The  institutions  already  established  must  devise  a  system  of 
training  workers  for  this  field,  or  new  institutions  must  be  started  which 
can  do  this  very  essential  work.  In  my  opinion,  based  largely  on  my  own 
experience,  and  that  of  others,  the  future  workers  will  come  from  the  ranks 
of  those  trained  for  public-school  teaching  with  this  training  supplemented 
by  courses  in  Bible  study  and  other  kindred  subjects.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
some  time  in  the  near  future  the  Church  will  get  a  true  vision  of  the  im- 
portance of  the  educational  side  of  its  work,  and  prepare  its  teachers  as  it 
does  its  ministers  and  missionaries. 

In  the  meantime  no  ground  should  be  lost.  This  new  department  of 
religious  work  is  causing  even  the  most  conservative  church  directors  to 
begin  to  realize  the  necessity  for  a  trained  teaching  force  if  this  part  of  the 
work  is  to  be  done  effectually. 

If  I  were  to  propose  a  program  relative  to  the  supplying  of  teachers 
for  this  work,  it  would  be  something  like  the  following : 

(1)  Develop  the  work  in  any  community  only  just  as  rapidly  as  a 
teaching  force  adequately  prepared  can  be  secured.  To  go  beyond  this  spells 
failure  in  that  community  and  a  set-back  for  the  whole  movement.  It  occurs 
to  me  that  the  securing  of  sufficient  number  of  teachers  to  carry  on  a  Week- 
day program  for  either  individual  churches  or  even  a  denominational  pro- 
gram will  be  next  to  impossible  at  present. 

(2)  Use  the  existing  agencies  to  train  for  the  immediate  future.    The 

•Director  of  Week-day  Bible  Schools  for  the  Toledo  Council  of  Churches,  Ohio 

139 


140  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

technique  of  the  class  room  is  common  to  all  kinds  of  teaching  in  the  same 
grade. 

(3)  Arrange,  where  possible,  supplementary  courses  to  those  given  in 
normal  schools  and  educational  departments  of  colleges  and  universities 
which  would  enable  students  to  specialize  in  religious  subjects.  This  could 
be  done  for  regular  credit  even  if  not  given  under  the  direction  of  the  in- 
stitution itself.  Many  Christian  colleges  already  have  this  arrangement  in 
their  program. 

(4)  Let  those  interested  in  this  great  work  use  every  influence  toward 
the  churches,  adopting  the  means  of  giving  the  proper  training  for  the  teach- 
ing function  of  the  church  with  standards  no  less  in  requirement  than  are 
now  existing  for  the  public  schools. 

School  people  are  watching  this  movement  critically  as  they  should. 
The  character  of  the  work  must  meet  their  approval  or  else  we  cannot  and 
ought  not  expect  their  cooperation. 


The  Fine  Arts  in  the  Curriculum 

H.  Augustine  Smith,  M.  A.* 

1.  The  fine  art  of  hymn  singing. 

2.  The  fine  art  of  choral  singing. 

3.  The  fine  art  of  community  ritual. 

4.  The  fine  art  of  pageantry. 

5.  The  fine  art  of  visualization. 

1.  The  fine  art  of  hymn  singing  has  come  and  gone.  Regnant  in  the 
days  of  Lowell  Mason  and  his  children's  concerts  in  Park  Street  church, 
Boston ;  John  Zeundel  at  the  Plymouth  Church  Organ  during  Beecher's  days  ; 
William  Bradbury  in  Baptist  Tabernacle,  New  York  City ;  Sherwin  and  Lath- 
bury  at  Chautauqua,  N.  Y. ;  congregational  singing  today  has  lapsed  into 
painful  silence.  Caught  up  by  the  great  war  and  stressed  for  its  emotional 
glow  and  compelling  unities,  community  singing  reached  unwonted  heights. 
Now  we  are  muffled  and  shrouded,  supine  in  the  plague  area  of  spectatoritis, 
content  to  buy  our  music  and  sit  on  the  bleachers  to  see  how  hirelings  work. 

When  we  do  sing,  seventy-five  per  cent  of  all  participants  sing  notes  and 
not  words.  Only  the  swift  and  accurate  reader  is  able  to  negotiate  the  tenor, 
bass  or  alto  part  and  plumb  or  scale  the  soprano  depths  or  heights ;  and  have 
mental  energy  left  for  the  text.  Cross-examine  the  next  hymn  singing  con- 
gregation on  the  poetry,  the  on-rush  of  stanzas,  the  surge  of  thought  and 
feeling.  Query  the  next  hymnal  committee  on  how  they  proceeded  to  choose 
a  new  book ;  playing  it  through  at  the  piano  or  reading  it  through,  and  again 
through,  for  its  poetry. 

Schools  of  religion  should  usher  in  a  new  day  for  the  dying  hymnal,  for 
the  ragged  and  torn  Psalter.  Not  only  will  they  put  an  end  to  the  disreputable 
collection  of  jazz  and  language  heaped  upon  Sunday  schools,  but  they  will 
make  the  hymn  book  live,  stressing  its  wonder  stories,  its  famous  men  and 

*A  paper  prepared  for  the  Nineteenth  General  Convention  of  the  R.  E.  A.  by  Professor  H. 
Augustine  Smith,  Boston  University,  and  read,  in  the  absence  of  Professor  Smith,  by  the  Rev. 
F.  E.  Butler,  Providence,  R.  I. 

This  is  a  paper  on   the  correlated   arts,   rather   than   an   argument   for   position   in   curricula. 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  141 

women,  its  nature  descriptions,  its  portrayal  of  crises  in  the  history  of  man- 
kind, its  devotional  warmth  and  range. 

We  should  follow  Paul's  advice  to  the  excitable  Corinthians  and  Colos- 
sians — "sing  with  spirit,  sing  with  understanding  also.  Sing  with  pep — sing 
also  with  penetration !  Sing  with  the  lungs  and  larynx,  sing  .also  with  the 
gray  matter,  yea,  from  the  nostrils  up !  Sing  with  an  understanding  of  the 
pictorial  values  in  the  "America,  the  beautiful"  adjectives;  catch  the  climactic 
nouns  in  "We've  a  story  to  tell  to  the  nations" ;  accentuate  the  verbs  in 
"Christian,  does  thou  see  them,"  dramatize  the  dialogue  between  a  group  of 
watchmen  and  one  of  travelers  in  "Watchman,  tell  us  of  the  night."  Tie 
up  hymn  singing  with  history,  biography,  literature,  music,  pictures,  drama. 
Paint  in  the  backgrounds,  pla}^  up  the  high  lights,  linger  in  the  shadows  of  the 
Corn  Laws  of  England  and  the  reconstruction  period  after  Waterloo  as 
"God  save  the  people"  is  sung.  What  a  symphony  for  youth  is  the  hymn: 
"I  would  be  true,  for  there  are  those  who  trust  me,  I  would  be  pure,  I  would 
be  strong,  I  would  be  brave,  I  would  be  friend  to  foe,  to  friendless ;  I  would 
be  giving,  forgetting  the  gift,  I  would  be  humble,  I  would  look  up,  and  laugh 
and  lift." 

A  pageant  of  lights  is  the  Golden  Canon  at  Easter  time !  For  a  thousand 
years  at  Athens  and  elsewhere,  one  solitary  light  communicating  its  light  to 
a  thousand,  ten  thousand  tapers,  has  set  all  Greece  and  all  Eastern  church 
areas  afire  just  before  the  dawn  of  Easter.  Throughout  this  pageant  of 
lights  rings  the  Easter  hymn — "The  day  of  resurrection,  earth  tell  it  all 
abroad."     Haven't  you  sung  it  again  and  again? 

The  fine  art  of  hymn  singing  will  evaluate  church  unity.  The  com- 
munity church,  the  community  school,  city  wide  commemoration  of  this  or 
that  event  will  look  searchingly  into  the  fields  of  denominational  reciprocity. 
The  following  ten  hymns  are  chosen  from  Anglican,  Roman  Catholic,  Uni- 
tarian, Methodist,  Presbyterian,  Congregational  sources.  All  hymns  can  be 
used  by  Roman  Catholic,  Protestant  and  Jew  alike  without  offence  to  any  one. 
Yet  here  are  ten  best  hymns  out  of  400,000,  best  in  singing  the  Christian  life 
for  children  and  youth,  best  in  the  widest  possible  range  of  subject  matter; 
and  without  denominational  tags. 

"Nearer  my  God  to  Thee" — a  charming  Old  Testament  story. 

"Faith  of  our  Fathers" —  a  close-up  of  the  Early  Christian  church  and 
since. 

"Lead  on,  O  king  eternal" — or  the  Kingdom  of  the  peacemakers. 

"I  would  be  true" — a  creed  for  daily  living. 

"God  save  the  people" — the  anthem  of  democracy. 

"Day  is  dying  in  the  west" — or  God's  out  of  doors. 

"Praise  to  God  and  thanks  we  bring" — all  the  year  tlirough  done  in  song 
and  meter. 

"O  beautiful  for  spacious  skies" — or  America,  past,  present  and  future. 

"These  things  shall  be,  a  loftier  race" — or  the  League  of  Nations  in 
peace. 

"Ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand" — or  the  chant  of  Immortality. 

2.  The  fine  art  of  choral  singing  has  prospered  in  many  lands.  Eng- 
land, Germany,  Russia,  Italy  have  cherished  traditions  in  this  field  ;  good 
music  self  expressed  by  the  masses  and  by  skilled  singers  in  smaller  groups. 
In  America,  we  deliberately  go  into  the  open  market  and  buy  our  music. 


142  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

Quartets  edify  us,  or  otherwise,  on  Sundays,  talking  machines  play  for  us 
in  home  life,  opera  jazzes  us  to  bed  at  the  midnight  hour,  while  Madam  S. 
of  foreign  vocal  training  negates  all  conversation  in  drawing  rooms.  How 
long  are  these  conditions  to  endure?  No  children's  choirs,  no  interpretative 
sweep  in  public  school  music,  no  releasing  of  child  ideals  and  uncanny  art 
powers  in  the  field  of  the  Messiah,  Creation,  Elijah,  Pilgrim's  Progress, 
Children's  Crusade.  "Too  difficult" — the  inevitable  reply!  Yet  tonight  the 
writer  is  conducting  a  concert  performance  of  "Faust"  with  children  under 
13  doing  most  of  the  singing.  Tomorrow  night  it  is  "Hiawatha's  Childhood" 
in  alternate  3/4  and  4/4  rhythms  and  the  strange  intervals  of  tribal  melodies. 
The  shame  of  adult  leadership — denying  range,  repertoire,  endurance,  dra- 
matic color  to  the  juvenile  singing  world. 

Children,  of  all  singers,  should  be  the  very  first  in  the  field  of  the  Halle- 
lujah Chorus,  the  Largo,  the  Pilgrim  Chorus  from  Tannhauser,  the  Elijah 
arias,  and  all  of  the  Gounod  colors  of  ravishing  melody  and  fascinating 
rhythms.  It  is  worth  all  that  it  costs  in  leadership,  equipment,  time  schedule, 
curriculum,  to  bring  child  life  and  youth  close  up  to  the  sublime  utterances  of 
the  masters.  May  I  remind  you  that  just  two  miles  from  this  hotel  is  unques- 
tionably the  finest  demonstration  center  of  any  in  the  U.  S.  of  how  to  iise 
masses  of  children,  not  alone  in  choral  procedure,  but  in  drama  and  festival — 
I  refer  to  the  five  vested  choirs  of  300  magnificently  trained  singers  in  the 
New  First  Congregational  Church.  Over  half  of  these  singers  are  mere 
children,  yet  they  will  shame  us  in  a  test  of  accuracy  and  dispatch  in  the 
singing  of  The  Golden  Legend  or  The  Swan  and  the  Skylark,  and  they  will 
give  you  a  master  dramatization  of  Elijah  that  will  carry  you  straight  to 
Mount  Carmel  with  all  the  historic  niceties  thrown  in  on  the  trip.  What  has 
been  done  in  this  one  church  and  community  can  and  should  be  repeated  in 
a  thousand  centers.  The  week  day  schools  with  a  15-minute  drill  in  the 
classics,  under  expert  leadership  capable  of  making  this  valued  period  glow 
with  light  and  heat,  may  make  choral  drill  a  veritable  red  letter  sector  in  the 
day,  not  only  inspirational  but  educative  with  its  ramifications  into  history, 
geography,  literature,  the  Bible,  the  arts.  Fifteen  minutes  now  will  work 
wonders  in  American  choral  procedure  ten  years  hence — oratorio  socie- 
ties will  once  more  come  back  to  life,  community  choruses  with  master 
programs  will  thrive  again  while  the  low  brow,  cravated  and  handkerchiefed 
precentor  will  look  elsewhere  for  the  chore  of  turning  the  complexion  of  a 
palefaced  race  into  the  ruddy  glow  of  Florida  or  of  summer  time,  with  one 
more  vocal  down  to  make — "yell,  comrades,  yell,"  "now  a  little  more" — 
"whistle  it,  stamp  it"  until  red  faces  are  a  sunset  glow  over  all. 

3.  The  fine  art  of  community  ritual  is  a  direct  protest  against  eccle- 
siastical worship.  The  latter  has  been  built  upon  theological  tenets,  on  the 
prophets  and  ecclesiasts  of  old,  on  tradition  and  smug  prejudice.  We  have 
had  enough  of  sacredotal  monologues,  of  priest  and  deacon  duets.  We  need 
rather  the  will  to  fellowship  in  ritual,  the  human  family  at  worship,  con- 
gregational participation,  at  once  full  voiced,  willing,  heart  to  heart,  hand 
in  hand ;  congregations  reading  from  side  to  side,  singing  like  the  sound  of 
many  waters.  Community  ritual  challenges  the  place  of  Saints  Days  over 
Children's  week,  of  Whitsunday  over  Father  and  Son,  Mother  and  Daughter 
periods.  New  subjects  claim  the  attention  of  both  church  and  state:  Arm- 
istice Day,  Church  Federation  Day,  City  Beautiful  Week,  World  Peace  and 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  143 

Brotherhood,  Education  day.  New  texts,  new  ritual,  will  work  wonders  in 
displacing  certain  imprecatory  Psalms,  slashing  sections  out  of  canticles"  and 
chants,  sluffing  off  vain  repetitions  and  pagan  wailings. 

The  resources  of  all  choirs,  dramatic  groups,  town  and  city  clubs,  will 
be  at  the  service  of  the  ritual  creator.  The  printed  forms  will  be  full  and 
rich  for  congregational  participation.  A  strategic  combination  of  instru- 
mental and  vocal  music  will  be  effected ;  of  solo  and  chorus,  of  antiphonal 
singing,  of  symbolism  and  pageantry,  of  lighting  and  scenic  effects,  of  shouts 
and  refrains.  All  nationalities  will  participate  through  free,  untrammeled 
expression.  I  call  your  attention  to  certain  successes  in  this  field  of  commu- 
nity ritual — A  Chant  of  Victory,  by  Arthur  Farwell ;  The  Will  of  Song,  by 
Percy  Mackaye  and  Harry  Barnhart;  The  New  Citizenship,  a  Civic  Ritual, 
by  Mackaye,  and  several  of  the  writer's  own  compilations  for  home  con- 
sumption :  Lest  We  Forget — or  Our  Day  of  Memory  and  The  Road  to  the 
Golden  Age,  a  stimulus  to  college  training. 

4-5.  The  fine  arts  of  pageantry  and  visualization,  in  combination  or 
separately,  are  of  particular  value  in  High  Schools  of  Religion.  The  dra- 
matic loves,  the  youth  who  is  enamored  of  the  foot  lights,  whose  chivalric 
intuitions  should  lead  him  before  the  heroine  with  pure  heart,  whose  taste 
for  style,  for  color,  for  piquancy  are  inborn,  whose  emotional  over-load 
needs  a  safety  valve,  will  find  in  drama  personal  redemption. 

He  who  impersonates  Isaiah  in  his  hour  of  vision,  "I  saw  the  Lord 
high  and  lifted  up,"  can  never  be  same  youth  after  living  this  part.  Pageantry 
and  living  pictures  are  marvelous  teachers  of  history,  of  biography,  of  social 
problems.  The  church  would  do  well  to  make  her  shrine  a  home  for  Chris- 
tian pageant  masters  and  students.  She  will  fill  her  auditoriums  Sunday 
nights,  she  will  vivify  Sunday  School  lesson  material,  she  will  grip  her  rest- 
less adolescent  life  and  save  them  from  blind  alleys,  down  whose  foul 
stretches  are  questionable  modern  dances  and  free-love  movies. 

The  test  of  curriculum  material  is  in  its  actual  use  in  the  class  room 
and  measurements  of  individual  pupils.  This  paper  is  based  on  the  actual 
teaching  of  36  lessons  in  the  Maiden  High  School  of  Religion  last  year. 

The  series  proved  an  unquestionable  success.  Let  me  conclude  this 
paper  with  a  listing  of  twelve  lessons  out  of  the  26. 

Twelve  Inspirational  Studies  in  Hymnody,  Music,  Ritual,  Art  and  Archi- 
tecture, and  Drama 

1.  The  Music  of  the  Bible- 

Choirs  and  Orchestras  under  David  and  Solomon 
Temple  dedication  and  festivals — Passover,  Tabernacles. 
Psalms  in  the  hymnal. 

2.  The  City  Beautiful — 

Jerusalem  inaugurated  capitol  under  King  David. 
Palm  Sunday  and  the  Passover  Feast. 
The  Crusaders  at  Jerusalem. 
Visions  of  the  City  of  God. 

3.  The  Singing  Army  of  Martyrs — 

Places  of  worship. 

Doxologies  of  a  persecuted  church. 

Making  music  in  the  early  days. 


144  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 


4.  Hymn  Singing  and  Great  Religious  Movements — 

Hymn  singing  against  Gnostics  and  Arians. 
Processionals,  out  door  choirs,  proselyting  "sings." 
The  hymn  singing  Albigenses  and  Waldenses. 
Ein  Feste  Burg — the  Reformation  in  Song. 

5.  The  Easter  Festival  in  all  Ages — 

Easter  week  in  the  early  church. 

Pageant  of  lights — Greek  church  midnight  hymn  and  the  lighting 
of  candles. 

6.  Famous  marching  songs  of  the  church — 

Deborah  and  Barak. 

Psalm  24. 

Hosanna,  blessed  is  he  that  cometh. 

Gloria,  laus  et  honor. 

Ein  Feste  Burg. 

Fairest  Lord  Jesus. 

Mine  eyes  have  seen  the  glory. 

7.  Famous  Homes  of  Hymn  Writers  and  Congregational  Song  Movements, 

Monasteries  of  St.  Sabas,  Clairvaux,  St.  Gaul,  Clugny — 
Alexandria.  Wittenberg. 

Edessa.  Epworth. 

Milan.  Olney. 

8.  Famous  literary  works  and  magazines  from  which  hymns  have  come — 

In  Memoriam. 

The  Brewing  of  Soma. 

The  Christian  Year. 

The  Professor  at  the  Breakfast  Table. 

The  Spectator. 

9.  Famous  Musical  classics  in  the  Hymnal — 

Beethoven's  Ninth  Symphony. 

Schumann's  Nachtstucke. 

Mendelssohn's  Songs  without  words. 

Weber's  operas  Freischiitz  and  Oberon. 

Haydn's  Creation. 

Handel's  Messiah. 
10.     Art  masterpieces  in  churches  and  museums. 

Raphael  and  the  Sistine  Madonna. 

Michael  Angelo  and  King  David  in  marble. 

Da  Vinci  and  the  Last  Supper. 

Hofmann's  Christ  in  the  Temple. 

Holman  Hunt's  Light  of  the  World. 

Abbey's  Quest  of  the  Grail. 
n.     Famous  churches  in  all  lands — a  study  of  architecture — 

St.  Sophia.  Amiens. 

Notre  Dame.  Canterbury. 

St.  Peters. 
12.     Color  and  symbolism  in  every  day  life. 

Inner  meanings. 

Strange  church  and  civic  symbols. 

The  palette  of  the  Master  Painter. 


Problems  in  Supervision 

John  E.  Stout,  Ph.  D.* 

The  purpose  of  this  discussion  is  to  state  as  clearly  as  may  be  some  of 
the  outstanding  problems  in  the  supervision  of  week-day  religious  education. 
Before  proceeding  to  our  main  discussion  it  seems  desirable  to  call  attention 
to  two  things  which  render  supervision  very  difficult. 

The  first  difficulty  arises  out  of  the  fact  that  people  quite  generally  are 
not  used  to  thinking  of  religious  education  in  the  same  way  in  which  they 
think  of  education  of  other  kinds.  They  have  come  to  understand,  although 
they  have  reached  this  conclusion  rather  slowly,  that  administrative  and 
supervisory  functions  in  public  education  are  extremely  important.  They 
are  therefore  willing  to  bear  the  expense  of  securing  such  supervision  and 
to  submit  to  the  formulation  of  educational  policies  and  the  carrying  out 
of  these  policies  by  persons  employed  for  that  purpose. 

Let  it  be  repeated  that  in  the  field  of  religious  education  we  find  a  very 
dift'erent  situation.  In  a  number  of  cases  with  which  the  writer  is  familiar 
a  considerable  number  of  people  have  agreed  reluctantly  to  the  employment 
of  persons  for  this  purpose  and  rather  grudgingly  furnished  the  financial 
support  necessary  to  secure  and  retain  them.  In  cases  where  the  public 
schools  are  cooperating,  the  influence  of  superintendents  constitute  a  large 
factor  in  securing  proper  recognition  of  the  necessity  of  systematic  super- 
vision. They  understand  with  entire  clearness  that  administrative  and  super- 
visory functions  must  be  performed  in  any  successful  educational  enterprise. 

One  other  thing  should  be  said  by  way  of  preliminary  statement.  This 
field  of  endeavor  is  so  new  that  there  is  no  semblance  of  standardization. 
We  are  not  agreed  even  in  any  detail  upon  what  we  want  these  schools  to 
accomplish.  Much  less  is  there  any  agreement  upon  means  and  methods 
of  accomplishment.  For  this  reason  problems  relating  to  supervision  can  be 
stated  only  in  a  general  way  and  detailed  statement  must  await  further  de- 
velopment. This  situation,  however,  should  not  deter  us  from  attempting  to 
state  as  clearly  as  may  be  the  supervisory  problems  inherent  in  any  well 
conceived  program  of  week-day  religious  education. 

The  following  classification  and  analysis  rests  upon  the  assumption 
that  there  are  certain  fundamental  principles  which  underlie  all  successful 
educational  administration  and  supervision.  For  example,  there  are  certain 
functions  which  supervision  must  perform,  a  few  rather  well  defined 
methods  and  means  of  performing  supervisory  functions,  and  certain  funda- 
mental principles  determining  efficiency.  It  should  be  said  here  that  we 
shall  think  of  these  problems  as  they  have  become  clearly  defined  in  connec- 
tion with  educational  institutions  already  having  considerable  degree  of 
standardization.  In  other  words,  the  public  schools  furnish  the  best  example 
by  way  of  illustration  at  our  command.  Let  us  have  a  clear  understanding 
at  this  point.  No  thought  is  entertained  that  a  statement  of  principles 
as  related  to  the  public  schools  will  serve  as  related  to  religious  educa- 
tion without  proper  adaptation  in  their  application.  Adaptation  will  have 
to  be  made  and  can  be  made  if  we  have  people  who  on  the  one  hand  are 
familiar  with  the  principles  underlying  all  successful  supervision,  and  on  the 
other  hand  sufficient  intelligence  to  apply  these  principles  wisely. 

•Professor  of  Religious   Education,   Northwestern  University,    Evanston,  111. 

145 


146  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

Within  the  brief  time  allotted  for  this  discussion  nothing  more  will  be 
attempted  than  to  indicate  the  nature  of  four  outstanding  supervisory  prob- 
lems. 

1.  Determining  the  relations  in  zvhich  supervision  should  be  exercised. 
One  of  the  important  tasks  of  the  supervisor  is  to  discover  the  relations  in 
which  supervision  is  needed.  He  must  discover  potential  needs  and  dif- 
ficulties, and  thereby  prevent  acute  situations  from  arising.  Conditions  of 
disorder  and  dissatisfaction  and  inefficient  teaching  are  prevented  by  antici- 
pating their  causes.  In  short,  it  is  the  problem  of  laying  out  his  work — of 
defining  his  job.    A  few  typical  relations  will  be  indicated. 

(1)  Classroom  work.  Poor  classroom  work  means  a  poor  school. 
The  week-day  school  of  religion  is  of  course  no  exception  to  the  rule.  The 
recitation  is  the  vital  point  of  contact  between  teacher  and  pupil.  Here 
is  where  lessons  are  assigned,  instruction  given,  certain  types  of  responses 
secured  and  methods  of  testing  and  drilling  applied.  A  brief  analysis  of  the 
classroom  situation  reveals  the   following: 

a.  Teachers  need  help  in  keeping  their  objectives  constantly  and 
clearly  before  them.  Aims  must  not  only  be  clearly  defined,  but  they 
must  be  made  constantly  dynamic. 

b.  The  selection  and  right  use  of  methods  and  devices  requires 
supervisory  oversight.  To  be  sure,  teachers  need  inspiration,  but  they 
also  need  information,  insight  and  guidance.  At  no  other  point  are 
they  in  greater  need  than  in  the  technique  of  teaching. 

c.  Teachers  need  guidance  in  the  assignment  of  lessons.  This 
is  particularly  true  in  the  case  of  week-day  schools.  Much  material 
is  not  organized  into  well  defined  lesson  units.  In  some  of  it  where 
such  units  are  well  defined  they  are  not  wisely  defined.  Constant  re- 
adjustments are  necessary  with  respect  to  amount  of  subject  matter  and 
its  degree  of  difficulty.  In  this  connection  it  need  not  be  said  that  the 
way  in  which  assignments  are  made  determines  in  large  measure  success 
and  failure  in  the  preparation  of  lessons. 

(2)  Social  and  recreational  actiznties.  The  program  of  religious  edu- 
cation is  coming  to  include  more  and  more  of  these  activities.  This  is  as  it 
should  be.  But  in  no  other  respect,  perhaps,  are  children  and  youth  in 
greater  need  of  intelligent  and  sympathetic  direction.  This  task  cannot  be 
left  to  individual  teachers  unaided.  There  must  be  a  definite  policy  for  the 
school  as  a  whole  and  it  must  be  wisely  administered.  Supervision  is  needed 
which  will  secure  to  the  children  the  largest  possible  degree  of  freedom  and 
initiative  and  at  the  same  time  provide  the  necessary  sympathetic  direction. 

(3)  Physical  conditions.  To  provide  suitable  buildings  and  adequate 
equipment  is  not  enough.  Their  proper  use  requires  constant  attention.  In 
view  of  the  fact  that  buildings  are  frequently  unsuitable  and  equipment 
inadequate,  supervisory  attention  is  all  the  more  necessary. 

(4)  Determining  the  functions  of  supervision.  The  inclusive  function 
of  supervision  is  to  correlate  and  direct  all  the  forces  relied  upon  to  attain 
the  objectives  for  which  the  school  is  maintained.  The  problem  of  coordi- 
nating the  work  of  the  school  with  that  of  the  home,  the  Sunday  School  and 
the  public  school  in  itself  constitutes  an  important  task.  Plans  for  doing 
this  will  not  work  automatically.  Some  of  the  more  specific  functions  will 
be  indicated. 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  147 


(v3)  Teachers'  meetings  constitute  one  of  the  most  effective  means  of 
supervision,  if  properly  conceived  and  conducted.  As  distinguished  from  a 
conference,  a  teachers'  meeting  is  more  formal  in  the  sense  that  a  program  is 
prepared  in  advance  and  carried  out  in  accordance  with  a  definite  plan. 
The  fact  that  teachers'  meetings  are  proverbial  time  wasters  does  not  alter 
the  fact  that  they  may  be  made  one  of  the  most  effective  agencies  in  super- 
vision, i    ,         ,, 

(4)  Written  suggestion  and  direction  should  be  used  more  than  is 
usually  done.  This  method  can  in  no  case  take  the  place  of  the  other  methods 
enumerated.  It  is,  however,  necessary  to  supplement  them.  Certain  ad- 
vantages are  inherent  in  this  method  among  which  are  that  it  saves  the 
teachers'  time,  compels  clear,  explicit  statements  of  suggestions  and  direc- 
tions, and  in  written  form  they  serve  more  or  less  as  permanent  guides. 

4.  Formulation  and  application  of  sound  principles  of  supervision. 
In  any  successful  attempt  to  state  and  solve  the  many  problems  involved  in 
the  supervision  of  a  school,  it  must  be  recognized  that  certain  principles  are 
a  fundamental  necessity.  They  serve  as  the  supervisor's  chart  and  compass. 
The  formulation  and  application  of  these  constitute  a  problem  of  consider- 
able magnitude.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  no  attempt  will  be  made  at  complete 
statement. 

(1)  Supervision  must  be  systematic  and  consistent.  A  well  defined 
supervisory  policy  must  govern.  Consistency  in  this  relation  is  more  than 
a  jewel — it  is  a  life  saver.  It  establishes  confidence  and  insures  steadiness. 
Teachers  and  pupils  know  what  to  expect  and  what  is  expected  of  them. 

(2)  Criticism  should  be  constructive.  Teachers  and  pupils  alike  must 
learn  what  not  to  do  and  causes  of  failure  must  be  pointed  out.  But  their 
attention  needs  to  be  directed  particularly  to  causes  of  success.  The  nega- 
tive criticism  not  infrequently  is  interpreted  as  fault  finding.  The  more  one 
plays  on  an  instrument  out  of  tune  the  more  discord  is  produced.  The  rem- 
edy is  to  tune  up  the  instrument. 

(3)  Help  should  be  given  when  and  where  it  is  most  needed.  Weak 
spots  in  a  school  are  like  weak  links  in  a  chain.  And  like  a  chain  it  is  finally 
judged  by  its  weakness.    Strengthen  the  weak  spots  and  do  it  now. 

(4)  Successful  supervision  allows  the  fullest  possible  measure  of  free- 
dom and  encourages  initiative  aud  originality.  The  personal  factor  is  a 
most  important  consideration  in  an  educational  enterprise  of  any  sort.  Its 
purpose  is  to  develop  personality.  In  religious  education  this  is  particularly 
true.  Supervision  of  teachers  should  result  in  an  increased  ability  on  their 
part  to  carry  on  their  work  unaided.  They  should  become  increasingly  self- 
reliant  and  have  an  increasing  sense  of  personal  responsibility  for  the  results 
of  their  teaching.  The  results  should  be  the  same  for  pupils.  They  should 
become  increasingly  responsible  for  regularity,  punctuality  and  self-control. 
None  of  these  results  are  possible  unless  both  teachers  and  pupils  are  en- 
couraged to  achieve  freedom  in  choice  and  execution  through  increasing 
ability,  gained  by  practice  in  self-direction. 

(5)  Matters  of  routine  should  be  mechanized.  Habit  saves  time  and 
energy,  makes  skill  possible  and  leaves  workers  free  to  direct  attention  to 
things  which  require  conscious  effort.  Uniform  ways  of  doing  things  which 
profitably  can  be  mechanized  should  be  insisted  upon  and  persisted  in  until 
habits  are  established. 


148  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 

(2)  Determining  the  functions  of  supervision.  The  inclusive  function 
of  supervision  is  to  correlate  and  direct  all  the  forces  relied  upon  to  attain 
the  objectives  for  which  the  school  is  maintained.  The  problem  of  coordi- 
nating the  work  of  the  school  with  that  of  the  home,  the  Sunday-school  and 
the  public  school  in  itself  constitutes  an  important  task.  Plans  for  doing 
this  will  not  work  automatically.  Some  of  the  most  specific  functions  will 
be  indicated. 

(1)  A  school  at  its  best  requires  not  only  that  each  teacher  be  suc- 
cessful in  doing  her  particular  work,  but  that  all  the  teachers  work  together 
as  a  unit.  This  is  another  way  of  saying  that  education  is  a  cooperative  en- 
terprise. To  secure  cooperation  requires  a  directing  mind  capable  of  seeing 
the  necessity  of  unity  of  efifort  and  capable  of  securing  it. 

(2)  In  any  cooperative  effort  proper  stimulus  is  necessary  to  unity 
and  regularity  of  effort.  Teachers,  like  all  other  workers  need  this  stimulus. 
To  know  that  some  competent  sympathetic  person  is  passing  judgment  upon 
our  work  for  the  sole  purpose  of  making  it  more  effective  stimulates  us 
to  do  our  best  unaided  and  to  keep  us  up  to  a  high  level  of  efficiency.  It  is 
a  source  of  great  encouragement  to  have  a  part  in  a  common  endeavor 
where  unified  effort  is  accomplishing  more  than  could  possibly  be  accom- 
plished if  we  were  only  one  of  a  mere  aggregation  of  workers.  Supervision 
is  the  unifying  force. 

(3)  One  of  the  primary  functions  of  supervision  is  to  secure  imme- 
diate and  accurate  diagnosis  of  difficulties.  But  this  does  not  state  the 
whole  case.  Lying  back  of  this  necessity  for  diagnosis  is  the  need  of  clear 
recognition  of  difficulties.  A  knowledge  that  things  are  going  wrong  must 
precede  diagnosis.     Further  than  this,  remedy  must  follow  diagnosis. 

(4)  An  important  function  of  supervision  is  to  secure  proper  testing 
of  results.  Standards  must  be  intelHgently  determined  and  wisely  applied. 
This  constitutes  one  of  the  imperative  needs  in  religious  education.  Intelli- 
gent supervision  is  essential  to  securing  it. 

(5)  No  statement  of  functions,  however  incomplete,  should  omit  the 
training  of  teachers  in  service.  The  limits  set  for  this  discussion  will  not 
permit  comment,  except  to  say  that  intelligent  supervision  is  the  greatest 
single  agency  in  the  training  of  teachers. 

3.  The  selection  and  use  of  methods  and  devices.  The  insistent  ques- 
tion which  the  supervisor  constantly  faces  is.  How  can  I  direct  all  the 
forces  of  the  school  to  the  best  advantage?  The  means  to  be  used  are  of 
course  determined  by  the  nature  of  the  task  of  supervision  itself.  Stated 
negatively,  let  it  be  said  that  it  can  not  be  done  by  sitting  in  the  office — it 
isn't  a  sitting  job.     The  situation  demands  active  participation. 

(1)  Direct,  constant  contact  with  the  activities  of  the  school  is  essen- 
tial. Frequent  visitation  is  therefore  necessary.  This  of  course  consumes 
time,  but  to  an  efficient  supervisor  the  only  excuse  that  time  has  for  existing 
is  to  be  wisely  consumed.  Visitation  oft'ers  opportunity  for  demonstration 
work,  but  this  method  has  to  be  used  wisely  and  even  sparingly. 

(2)  Individual  and  group  conferences  are  highly  useful.  They  afford 
close  range  contact  and  give  opportunity  for  securing  mutual  understand- 
ings. The  former  provide  for  the  personal  needs  of  teachers.  The  latter 
serve  to  broaden  the  outlook  of  teachers  and  secure  unity  in  the  work  of  the 
school. 


Can  Growth  in  Religion  Be  Measured  ? 

Hugh  Hartshorne* 

As  it  is  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to  introduce  and  promote  discussion, 
I  may  be  permitted  to  raise  questions  for  which  I  can  offer  no  final  answers. 
We  need  more  thinking  on  this  problem — more  digging  around  at  its  roots. 
I  entertain  no  fear  lest,  being  unable  to  measure  religion,  we  submit  our- 
selves and  our  cause  to  the  ridicule  of  the  psychologist.  I  am  not  even  dis- 
turbed by  the  axiom  which  holds  that  all  that  exists  exists  in  some  amount 
and  can  therefore,  theoretically,  be  measured.  My  fear  is  rather  that  we 
may  hastily  devise  a  few  tests,  name  them  tests  of  religion,  and  blindly  apply 
them  to  children  as  a  reliable  measure  of  their  spiritual  growth.  Even  old 
"I.  Q."  has  a  shady  reputation,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  probably  more  time 
has  been  spent  on  it  by  competent  psychologists  than  on  any  other  psycho- 
logical problem  in  the  history  of  the  science.  Who  are  we,  then,  to  presume 
to  make  an  adequate  test  of  religious  growth  in  a  day,  or  a  year,  or  a  decade? 

What  is  it  we  want  to  know  ?  What  is  the  most  important  question  we 
can  ask  about  a  man?  For  several  years,  now,  psychologists  have  been 
making  possible  the  answers  to  exceedingly  pertinent  questions.  We  can  find 
out  with  considerable  accuracy  an  individual's  skill  in  the  use  of  the  tools  of 
culture — reading,  numbering,  various  aspects  of  writing  such  as  spelling  and 
composition.  We  can  know  with  tolerable  certainty  a  person's  capacity  to 
use  these  tools  in  mastering  racial  achievements  as  these  appear  in  the  school 
curriculum.  This  capacity,  stated  in  relative  terms,  we  call  his  intelligence 
quotient.  It  indicates  whether  he  is  average  or  ahead  or  behind  as  to  his 
standing  among  his  mates  and  it  enables  us  to  predict  school  success — other 
things  being  equal. 

Other  things  are  not  equal,  of  course.  But  some  of  these  other  things, 
like  persistence,  suggestibility,  speed,  etc.,  are  coming  under  more  careful 
scrutiny.  Downey's  Will  Profile^  test  and  Ream's^  modification  of  it  are 
most  promising  essays  into  this  more  intangible  field  of  human  dynamics. 

Important  as  all  such  tests  are,  and  the  range  and  number  of  tests  is 
extraordinarily  large,  do  they  enable  us  to  answer  the  most  important  ques- 
tion we  can  ask  about  a  man?  We  can  say  he  is  intelligent,  quick,  inde- 
pendent, persistent;  that  he  can  spell  and  figure  correctly,  write  beautifully, 
memorize  marvelously ;  that  he  has  musical  or  artistic  talent ;  that  his  senses 
are  keen  and  well  coordinated ;  that  he  has  conventional  or  unconventional 
ideas  about  things  in  general ;  that  in  certain  matters  he  did  not  cheat,  and 
may  perhaps  therefore  be  trusted  when  he  gives  us  a  glowing  picture  of  his 
personal  and  social  habits  in  answer  (confidential)  to  our  questions.  But 
one  rises,  as  they  say  in  book  reviews,  from  such  an  account,  with  a  sense 
of  rather  complete  ignorance.  What  of  it  if  all  these  things  are  true?  What 
of  it  ?    What  do  I  really  want  to  know  about  a  man  ? 

Well,  of  course,  I  shall  be  challenged  to  indicate  the  particular  field  of 
knowledge  that  is  not  covered,  or  the  particular  interest  I  have  in  mind. 

•Professor  in  Union  Theological  Seminary,  New  York. 

1.  Downey,  J.   E.     "The  Will   Profile,"  Department  of  Psychology,  Bulletin  No.   3,   University 
of  Wyoming. 

2.  Ream,  M.  J.     "Group  Will-Temperament  Tests,"  Jo.  of  Ed.  Psych.,  xiii,  1,  pp.  7-16,  January, 
1922. 

149 


150  WEEK-DAY   R'feLIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

I  am  willing  to  reply  that  under  any  and  all  circumstances,  whether  I  am 
engaging  a  clerk  or  a  manager  or  a  teacher,  whether  I  am  teaching  spelling 
or  history  or  theology,  there  is  something  about  a  person  I  want  to  know 
of  which  all  our  tests  tell  me  nothing. 

It  may  not  be  far  from  the  truth  to  say  that  what  we  want  in  another 
person  under  any  and  all  circumstances  is  the  spirit  of  cooperation.  Will 
he  make  a  good  neighbor,  a  good  fellow  workman?  He  either  will  or  he 
won't.  You  can  trust  him  or  you  can't  trust  him.  Which  is  it  to  be  ?  What 
is  he  after?    What  is  his  motive?    For  whom  or  for  what  is  he  working? 

The  question  of  more  or  less  is  inappropriate.  The  love  motive  is 
present  or  it  is  not  present.  It  may  be  mixed  with  others,  but  in  love  itself 
there  are  no  degrees.  It  is  Yes  or  No,  God  or  mammon,  sheep  or  goats,  for 
or  against.  The  apocalyptic  judgment  scene  is  illuminating,  with  its  division 
of  the  people  into  two  great  throngs.  The  test  is  rather  a  simple  one.  Did 
they  or  did  they  not  feed  the  hungry,  clothe  the  naked,  visit  the  sick  ? 

As  old  as  moral  judgment  itself  is  the  insistence  upon  the  choice  of  one 
of  two  alternatives.  One  can  move,  morally,  in  only  one  direction  at  a  time. 
The  thing  that  matters  is  the  direction  in  which  one  is  moving,  or,  rather, 
choosing  to  move.  The  thing  we  want  to  know  is  the  direction  of  a  man's 
will.    What  is  he  after?    Until  I  know  that  I  don't  know  the  man. 

It  needs  no  argument  to  show  that  it  is  with  this  general  trend  of  a 
man's  life  that  religion  has  to  do.  The  subject-matter  of  religion  is  trend 
or  destiny:  ultimate  destiny,  or  trend  in  its  largest  implications.  One  does 
not  measure  a  direction.  One  describes  it.  Progress  in  religion  consists 
in  achieving  in  larger  and  more  complex  relationships  a  single  direction  of 
will.  There  will  be  involved  the  achievement  of  particular  skills  and  knowl- 
edge and  wisdom.    All  these  can  be  measured. 

Let  us  consider,  then,  certain  of  the  measurable  factors  in  religion, 
before  taking  up  the  problem  of  how  to  discover  the  presence  or  absence  of 
religion  itself. 

It  cannot  be  too  emphatically  repeated  that  all  these  factors  may  be 
found  in  full  development  idthout  any  guarantee  of  the  presence  of  the 
thing  we  are  most  interested  in.  We  are  not  much  interested  in  anything  but 
an  equipped,  informed  and  loving  will.  The  equipment  and  the  information 
izmthout  the  loving  zvill  would  be  like  being  all  dressed  up  with  no  place  to 
^go,  or  even  like  being  on  a  limited  express  going  in  the  wrong  direction.  If 
we  measure  habits,  skills,  knowledge,  it  is  not  for  their  own  sake,  for  they 
mean  nothing  apart  from  the  purposes  whose  realization  they  make  possible. 

The  nature  of  our  general  motive,  of  whose  presence  or  absence  we  feel 
we  must  be  assured  if  we  are  to  know  a  person,  is  such  as  to  require  a 
certain  kind  of  support  or  equipment  if  it  is  to  function  freely.  This  equip- 
ment'* may  be  briefly  listed  as  follows : 

The  ability  to  foresee  and  the  habit  of  foreseeing  consequences,  par- 
ticularly social  consequences. 

The  ability  and  habit  of  analyzing  consequences  so  as  to  be  able  to 
respond  to  selected  aspects. 

Knowledge  of  possible  consequences  and  of  possible  responses. 

Skill  in  making  wise  responses  to  both  real  and  imaginary  situations. 

3.     See  my  article,  "The  Measurement  of  Growth  in  Religion,"  Religious  Education,  June,  191», 
for  an  elaboration  of  this  discussion  of  equipment. 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  151 

This  is  a  highly  general  list  and  could  be  elaborated  indefinitely.  There  ,y^ 
IS  nothing  here,  however,  that  could  not  be  tested  and  measured,  given 
patience  and  ingenuity.  Some  interesting  things  might  be  discovered  about 
the  ostrich-like  character  of  our  religious  teaching,  which  attempts  to  make 
us  expert  in  the  letter  of  the  Mosaic  law  but  ignorant  of  the  implications 
of  its  spirit;  facile  in  the  repetition  of  story  or  creed,  the  while  we  violate 
its  message  in  uncriticized  behavior. 

The  particular  consequences  to  which  our  desired  dominant  motive  is 
directing  our  attention  are  consequences  or  effects  upon  the  personalities  of 
our  fellows — all  our  fellows.  The  cooperative  love  motive  is  unaware  of 
distinctions  among  men  as  objects  of  its  interest.  Foresight  of,  and  suitable 
response  to  consequences  is,  therefore,  just  another  name  for  intelligent 
social  functioning.  Not  isolated  habits  or  skills,  not  the  possession  of  knowl- 
edge, but  purposeful  participation  in  the  life  of  society,  is  what  we  must 
measure. 

Here,  again,  there  is  nothing  impossible  of  achievement.  Self-listing^ 
of  specific  practices,  provided  these  are  weighed  in  terms  of  their  social 
significance  and  are  definitely  related  as  means  to  social  ends,  is  a  practicable 
method  of  measuring  social  functioning.  Such  methods  as  are  at  present 
being  developed  tend  to  become  mere  listing  of  "qualities"  out  of  all  relation 
to  deeds,  or  listing  of  deeds  out  of  all  relation  to  functions. 

Such  self-listing  is  obviously  only  for  those  who  can  read  and  write. 
But  the  same  end  can  be  reached  by  observation,  when  suitably  organized.^ 

Now  I  realize  that  there  are  several  points  about  which  there  will  be 
question  and  many  statements  on  which  I  may  be  attacked.  It  will  doubt- 
less be  contended  that  this  thing  I  want  to  measure,  and  which  I  say  cannot 
be  measured,  is  a  definite  thing  and  exists  in  definable  quantities.  Some 
will  say  that  even  a  direction  can  be  measured.  There  is  space  only  to 
say  that  even  if  we  insist  on  using  physical  analogies  for  things  which  are 
not  physical,  it  may  still  be  said  that  one  can  travel  in  only  one  direction  at 
a  time,  and  that  direction  has  meaning  in  terms  of  the  goal  to  be  reached. 
In  the  realm  of  moral  values  an  end  may  be  worthy  or  unworthy.  It  cannot 
be  both  at  once  to  the  same  person.  Nor  is  the  thing  that  gives  love  its 
ethical  meaning  the  "quantity"  of  its  urge,  but  its  purpose,  its  objective. 

But  if  the  social  will  either  is  or  is  not,  and  does  not,  ethically  speaking, 
exist  in  degree  or  quantity,  then  how  can  one  grow  socially?  I  reply  that, 
if  in  any  instance  a  child  really  loves,  in  that  particular  instance  not  even  God 
Himself  could  love  more.  There  is  nothing  more  to  give  than  oneself.  The 
act  of  giving  is  a  complete  and  perfect  thing.  Indeed  it  is  in  this  sense  only 
that  Jesus'  command  that  men  should  be  perfect  as  God  is  perfect  has  mean- 
ing. One  can  iinll  to  do  God's  will.  One  can  will  to  be  good.  One  can  lose 
himself  in  the  cause  of  his  fellowmen.  One  can  put  his  hand  to  the  plow. 
But  one  cannot  at  the  same  time  do  the  opposite. 

Then  what  is  growth  in  love? 

Growth  in  love  is  growth  in  the  consistency,  range  and  wisdom  of  love, 


4.  Chassell,  C.  F.,  "Some  New  Tests  in  Religious  Education,"  Religious  Education,  Dec,  1921. 
This  article  contains  among  other  interesting  tests  a  Measurement  Chart  for  Sunday-school  Juniors 
which  uses  this  principle  of  self-listing. 

5.  See  Miss  Rankin's  "Scheme  for  Observing  the  Social  Behavior  of  Children,"  reported  in 
my  article  on  the  "Cooperative  Study  of  the  Religious  Life  of  Children,"  in  Religious  Education, 
December,    1921. 


152  WEEK-DAY  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 

growth  in  love's  equipment,  and  increase  in  love's  objects ;  growth,  that  is, 
in  the  amount  of  self  there  is  to  give,  in  the  selves  and  causes  to  which  one 
gives  himself,  and  in  the  removal  of  the  obstructions  to  complete  self -giving. 

Measuring  love's  equipment,  therefore,  will  help  us  to  know  not  how 
much  a  child  can  love,  but  what  a  child  can  love  and  how  wisely  he  can  love. 

I  hope  this  does  not  seem  to  be  a  mere  quibble  of  words.  There  is  a 
fundamental  truth  here  upon  the  realization  of  which  depends  our  insight 
into  the  meaning  of  education  in  religion,  and  the  real  wonder  of  childhood. 
Holding  the  conviction  he  did  of  the  Kingdom,  what  could  Jesus  have  meant 
when  he  said  of  children,  "Of  such  is  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven?"  The  King- 
dom of  Heaven  is  the  kingdom  of  love.  Possibly  we  may  find  ourselves 
guilty  of  teaching  our  children  to  stop  loving — at  least  to  limit  the  range  of 
the  objects  of  love.  In  the  presence  of  so  much  adult  hatred  of  race  and 
class  no  wonder  Jesus  looked  with  relief  and  hope  upon  the  natural  outreach 
of  the  heart  of  a  child  to  fellowship  with  all  mankind. 

How  then  are  we  to  discover  in  just  what  relations  growing  children 
do  and  can  love  in  addition  to  the  secondary  considerations  we  have  already 
noted  as  to  the  wisdom  and  skill  wath  which  they  love?  The  problem,  I 
repeat,  is  not  how  much,  but  zvhethcr  or  not,  and  in  what  relations. 

First,  let  me  say  that  for  purposes  of  religious  education,  the  most  im- 
portant thing  is  that  provision  be  made  for  the  individual  to  know  himself. 
The  process  of  personal  integration  can  go  on  only  under  the  stimulus  of 
informed  self-criticism.  Self-criticism  even  in  a  three-year-old  is  a  normal 
tendency.  What  is  needed  is  a  standard.  Obviously,  since  we  are  dealing 
with  personality,  the  standard  must  be  a  person.  Obviously  again,  we  are 
logically  driven  to  God  as  the  inclusive  personal  standard — to  love  itself — 
or  himself — as  that  by  which  love  is  recognized  as  present  or  absent. 

For  the  individual,  then,  the  supreme  and  constant  test  of  his  own 
progress,  his  own  social  competence,  his  own  goodness,  is  prayer,  in  which 
one  comes  face  to  face  wath  the  experience  of  Love.  You  may  say  this  brings 
us  back  just  to  where  we  started.  Perhaps  our  difficulty  is  in  trying  to 
measure  love  by  something  else  which  we  know  better,  or  by  something 
different  in  character.  But  there  is  nothing  we  know  better  than  love,  and 
nothing  else  will  serve  as  its  measure  any  more  than  one  could  measure  sight 
by  hearing. 

To  be  effective,  however,  prayer  must  be  informed.  The  idea  of  God 
must  be  clear,  unencumbered  with  primitive  baggage.  And  the  process  of 
self-criticism  must  be  enlightened  as  well  as  rigorous. 

These  statements  only  emphasize  how  intimately  social  is  prayer.  Only 
through  the  experience  of  prayer  with  others  can  its  nature  and  possibilities 
be  realized  by  the  child,  and  only  through  the  teaching  and  conduct  of  others 
can  standards  be  achieved. 

If  these  (ideal)  early  days  could  be  continued  in  the  form  of  family 
prayer,  and  also  worship  in  wider  groups,  our  problem  of  knowing  the  in- 
dividual would  not  exist.  We  inevitably  would  know  one  another  because 
our  standards  would  be  arrived  at  by  our  joint  effort  to  think  through  moral 
problems,  and  in  our  common  worship  there  would  be  the  constant  sharing 
of  one  another's  weakness  as  well  as  one  another's  strength.  Those  who 
pray  together,  know  one  another. 

Lacking  as  we  do  this  ideal  religious  fellowship  in  which  there  would 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  153 

be  no  difficulty  about  our  knowing  one  another,  is  there  any  way  to  discover 
another's  supreme  motive  in  the  interest  of  his  rehgious  growth  ?  We  might 
not  go  far  wrong  if  we  should  revert  to  the  New  Testament  insistence  on 
fruits  as  the  test  of  the  worth  of  the  tree.  So  also  the  apocalyptic  scene 
already  referred  to.  Force  is  known  only  in  work  done.  Values  are  real 
only  as  controlling  action  or  thought.  What  will  a  man  give  in  exchange 
for  his  life? 

Doubtless  by  judicious  checking  of  what  the  members  of  a  group  say 
they  value  by  some  reference  to  actual  conduct  as  a  more  reliable  test,  it 
could  be  found  just  what,  if  any,  relation  subsists  between  what  a  man  says 
or  thinks  he  values  and  what  he  really  does  value.  The  same  check  could 
be  made  between  real  values  and  other  laboratory  tests,  such  as  vocabulary 
of  social  ethics,  discrimination  among  imaginary  situations  f  choice  among 
possibilities  of  action.  One  might  even  go  so  far  as  to  subject  such  a  group 
to  all  sorts  of  standardized  tests  to  see  whether  anything  at  all  correlated 
highly  with  actual  valuations  as  revealed  by  conduct. 

But  at  once  we  are  confronted  by  certain  fallacies  in  the  use  of  sta- 
tistical methods  in  the  measurement  of  individuals.  It  is  all  too  frequently 
assumed,  e.  g.,  that  by  narrowing  the  limits  within  which  prediction  is  un- 
reliable we  can  actually  predict.  Reduce  the  probability  of  error  as  we  may, 
what  we  "know"  about  any  tested  individual  as  to  his  subsequent  behavior 
or  achievement  in  some  correlated  activity  is  either  not  "knowledge"  at  all 
but  a  guess,  or  a  meagre  generality.  This  of  course  is  not  true  of  groups. 
We  can  predict  for  a  group  because  of  the  nature  of  chance  distributions. 
But  the  group  standard  or  equation  or  curve  only  by  rare  chance  ever  fits 
the  individual  not  yet  tested.  A  bad  guess  as  to  a  child's  probable  school 
achievement  based  on  his  I.  Q.  is  bad  enough.  But  a  bad  guess  as  to  his 
character  is  tragedy.  There  can  be  no  substitute  for  direct  knowledge  of 
the  individual's  own  social  will. 

We  are  forced  back,  then,  upon  real  situations,  or  at  least  upon  situa- 
tions that  involve  large  elements  of  reality,  as  our  chief  reliance  in  discover- 
ing what  the  dominant  motive  is  in  various  situations.^  In  a  character  not 
yet  fully  organized,  it  cannot  be  expected  that  the  will  to  be  social,  although 
present  in  some  is  present  in  all,  relationships.  Nor  is  there  any  way  of 
finding  out  whether  an  individual  wills  to  be  social  in  all  possible  situations 
save  by  some  miracle  of  insight  either  on  our  part  or  his  own. 

We  come  to  two  conclusions,  therefore.  One  is  that  there  is  no  sub- 
stitute for  continued  observation  as  the  only  way  to  know  what  we  most 
want  to  know  about  people.  We  must  learn  and  they  must  learn  through 
experience  itself  what  it  is  they  most  desire,  testing  love  by  loving. 

The  second  conclusion  is  that  by  attempting  to  test  abstractly  the  ex- 
istence of  a  completely  generalized  social  will  we  are  in  danger  of  neglecting 
one  main  condition  of  its  presence  or  rather  its  achievement,  viz,  faith.  It 
is  a  social  product.  It  is  not  something  one  gets  for  himself.  It  is  the  result 
of  the  interaction  of  mutually  helpful  persons,  each  of  whom  believes  in  the 
other.    The  faith  of  the  group  is  one  major  factor  in  the  whole  process.    To 


6.  See  the  article  on   "Measurement  of  Growth  in   Religion,"  cited  above. 

7.  See  Voelker's  study  of  The  Function  of  Ideals  and  Attitudes  in  Social  Education.  Teachers 
College.  Dr.  Voelker  attempted  to  place  boys  in  real  situations  which  could  at  the  same  time  be 
controlled  as  one  would  control  a  laboratory  experiment. 


154  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 


isolate  an  individual  from  such  a  relationship  and  then  ask,  "What  are  you?" 
is  as  foolish  as  to  attempt  to  learn  the  ways  of  an  eagle  by  watching  the 
pitiful  caged  creatures  of  the  zoo.  To  learn,  therefore,  apart  from  fellow- 
ship, the  character  of  something  which  is  the  product  of  fellowship  is  in 
the  nature  of  the  case  impossible.® 

This  does  not  mean  that  we  should  not  find  ways  of  measuring  what  I 
have  called  the  equipment  of  the  loving  will  and  of  observing  and  object- 
ifying the  social  functions  of  individuals  and  groups.  We  should  push  these 
inquiries  as  far  and  as  rapidly  as  possible,  developing  age  norms  as  well  as 
tests,  and  applying  our  scales  to  the  comparative  study  of  methods,  materials 
and  conditions  of  teaching.  The  whole  field  is  open  before  us,  although 
much  good  work  has  already  been  done.  Having  suggested  above  what 
seems  to  me  to  be  the  most  promising  directions  for  further  study  and  ex- 
periment, I  close  with  a  final  appeal  for  the  basing  of  our  test-making  on  a 
more  thorough  analysis  of  the  nature  of  growth  in  religion  and  a  clearer 
recognition  of  just  what  it  is  we  are  actually  testing  in  any  given  case. 

8.  It  is  just  here  that  one  tends  to  question  the  validity  of  Voelker's  procedure,  described  in 
the  book  referred  to  above.  At  the  point  of  testing,  was  fellowship  maintained,  or  at  that  point, 
when  an  artificial  situation  was  created  which  involved,  deliberately,  possibilities  of  deception  on 
the  part  of  the  boys,  was  fellowship  really  broken?  Furthermore,  to  what  extent  was  the  factor 
of  the  leader's  faith  in  each  boy  tested  by  this  method? 


THE  FINDINGS 


THE  REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  ON   FINDINGS  WILL  BE  FOUND  ON   PAGES 

266-268. 


CONFERENCE  CHARTS 


THE  TWENTY-FIVE  CHARTS,  OR  GRAPHS,   PREPARED  IN  CONNECTION   WITH 
THE  SURVEY   WILL   BE   FOUNB  ON    PAGES  275-289. 


R.  E.  A.  Reports 

Following  the  custom  of  the  past  several  years  the  issue  of  Religious 
Education  for  August  will  be  "The  R.  E.  A.  Annual"  and  wHl  include 
reports  of  business  transacted  at  the  annual  convention. 


The  Legal  Basis 

Carl  Zollman* 

In  countries  with  an  established  church  there  is  no  occasion  for  a 
separation  of  religious  and  secular  education.  Both  are  under  the  same 
authority  and  can  most  conveniently  be  given  in  the  same  building.  Where 
however  the  church  is  disestablished  a  great  difficulty  presents  itself.  The 
boundary  between  religious  and  secular  education  is  not  clearly  defined  and 
in  fact  is  a  broad  zone  rather  than  a  line.  The  State  needs  the  softening 
influence  of  religion  to  round  out  the  character  of  its  future  citizens  while 
the  churches  cannot  but  recognize  the  great  advantage  of  secular  knowl- 
edge to  their  members.  While  attempts  on  the  part  of  churches  to  impart 
secular  knowledge  are  unobjectionable  since  the  State  does  not  claim  any 
monopoly  in  the  educational  field,  attempts  by  the  State  to  teach  religion  in 
addition  to  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  and  other  secular  subjects  lead  to 
the  most  serious  practical  difficulties.  There  is  a  most  decided  difiference 
of  opinion  concerning  the  relations  of  God  and  man.  Arrangements  even 
for  a  merger  of  a  public  with  a  parochial  school  have  occasionally  been 
made  where  all  or  practically  all  of  the  inhabitants  of  a  school-district  were 
of  the  same  faith  but  have  met  with  the  emphatic  disapproval  of  the  courts.^ 
Any  arrangement  by  which  any  form  of  sectarian  instruction  is  given  as  a 
part  of  the  public-school  curriculum  must  in  its  very  nature  conflict  with 
the  religious  convictions  of  a  part  of  its  patrons. 

Our  present  school  situation  cannot  be  properly  grasped  without  an 
understanding  of  the  history  which  lies  back  of  it.  When  nearly  a  century 
ago  our  public-school  system,  under  the  leadership  of  Horace  Mann,  com- 
menced its  phenomenal  growth  it  either  absorbed  or  crushed  the  various 
elementary  schools  then  existing,  whether  they  were  mere  business  ven- 
tures, or  rested  on  a  charitable  foundation,  or  were  conducted  by  a  church. 
The  Catholic  parochial  schools  were  the  only  notable  exception.  They  re- 
tained their  hold  though  the  burden  which  they  involved  was  very  severely 
felt  by  their  supporters. 

Any  dissatisfaction  however  could  not  immediately  crystalize  into  con- 
certed action.  The  long-drawn-out  debate  over  the  slavery  question  which 
was  gradually  dragging  the  country  into  the  civil  war  overshadowed  every- 
thing else  and  left  no  room  for  a  general  school  agitation.  The  same  is 
true  in  increased  measure  of  the  four  years  of  armed  conflict  which  fol- 
lowed the  debate.  It  holds  good  in  a  gradually  decreasing  ratio  in  regard 
to  the  reconstruction  period  which  followed.  It  was,  therefore,  only  in 
the  seventies  that  the  smoldering  embers  burst  forth  in  flames.  An  agitation 
begun  whose  main  object  was  to  obtain  for  the  parochial  schools  in  relation 
to  the  children  trained  in  them  the  same  support  which  was  given  to  the 
public  schools.  There  was  also  a  subsidiary  aim  namely  to  bring  about 
religious  instruction  in  the  public  schools.  Some  measure  of  success  had 
locally  been  achieved  when  President  Grant,  on  September  29th,  1875,  in 

•Attorney,  at  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  author  of  "American  Civil  Church  Law"  and  "Church  and  School 
in  the  American  Law." 

1.  1894  Ricbter  v.  Cordes  100  Mich.  278,284,  58  N.  W.  1110;  1918  Knowlton  v.  Baumhover 
182  Iowa  691,  166  N.  W.  202,  5  A.  L.  R.  841.  For  a  more  detailed  statement  of  the  latter  decision 
see  note  46  in  fin. 

155 


156  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

an  address  to  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  at  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  challenged 
the  movement.    He  said  : 

"The  centennial  year  of  our  national  existence,  I  believe,  is  a  good  time 
to  begin  the  work  of  strengthening  the  foundations  of  the  structure  com- 
menced by  our  patriotic  forefathers  one  hundred  years  ago  at  Lexington. 
Let  us  all  labor  to  add  all  needful  guarantees  for  the  security  of  free 
thought,  free  speech,  a  free  press,  pure  morals,  unfettered  religious  senti- 
ments, and  of  equal  rights  and  privileges  to  all  men,  irrespective  of  nation- 
ality, color,  or  religion.  Encourage  free  schools,  and  resolve  that  not  one 
dollar  appropriated  for  their  support  shall  be  appropriated  to  the  support  of 
any  sectarian  schools.  Resolve  that  neither  the  State  nor  nation,  nor  both 
combined,  shall  support  institutions  of  learning  other  than  those  sufficient 
to  afford  every  child  growing  up  in  the  land  the  opportunity  of  a  good 
common-school  education,  unmixed  with  sectarian,  pagan,  or  atheistical 
dogmas.  Leave  the  matter  of  religion  to  the  family  altar,  the  church,  and 
the  private  school,  supported  entirely  by  private  contributions.  Keep  the 
Church  and  the  State  forever  separate.  With  these  safeguards,  I  believe 
the  battles  which  created  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  will  not  have  been 
fought  in  vain."^ 

Events  now  followed  fast  on  each  other.  Grant  in  his  annual  message 
of  1875  recommended  an  amendment  to  the  federal  constitution  which 
would  prohibit  "the  granting  of  any  school-funds,  or  school  taxes,  or  any 
part  thereof,  either  by  legislative,  municipal,  or  other  authority,  for  the 
benefit  or  in  aid,  directly  or  indirectly,  of  any  religious  sect  or  denomina- 
tion.^. Exactly  a  week  after  the  submission  of  this  message  James  G. 
Blaine,  who  was  then  the  leader  of  the  house,  introduced  a  rather  colorless 
constitutional  amendment  which,  on  August  4,  1876,  was  overwhelmingly 
passed  by  the  house.*  The  famous  Tilden-Hayes  campaign  in  the  mean- 
time had  come  into  swing  and  this  matter  had  become  one  of  its  issues. 
Accordingly  the  Republican  National  Platform  of  1876  called  for  an  amend- 
ment to  the  federal  constitution  "forbidding  the  application  of  any  public 
funds  or  property  for  the  benefit  of  any  school  or  institution  under  sec- 
tarian control.^  When  the  amendment,  in  a  greatly  strengthened  form,® 
was  finally  voted  on  in  the  senate  it  resulted,  on  August  14,  1876,  in  a 
strictly  partisan  vote,  all  Republican  senators  voting  for  and  all  Democratic 
senators  voting  against  it^  and  was  lost  because  it  had  not  received  the 
necessary  two-thirds  majority.  With  it  the  agitation  for  an  amendment 
to  the  federal  constitution  has  come  to  a  close. 

This  however  was  not  to  be  the  end.  Feelings  had  been  too  deeply 
stirred.  The  public  mind  was  firmly  set  against  the  contention  which  had 
been  advanced.  Accordingly  nine  of  the  ten  states  since  admitted  into  the 
union  have  been  required,  as  a  condition  of  admission,  to  provide  by  an 
ordinance  irrevocable,  without  the  consent  of  the  United  States  and  of  the 
people  of  the  new  State,  that  provision  shall  be  made  "for  the  establishment 
and  maintenance  of  a  system  of  public  schools,  which  shall  be  open  to  all 


2.  Hecker,  Catholics  and  Education,  180;   Sevett.  American  Public  Schools,  7t. 

3.  Congressional  Record,  Vol.   4,  Part   1,  p.   175. 

4.  Ibid.,  p.  205. 

5.  Paragraph  7. 

6.  Congressional  Record,  Vol.   i,  Part  1,  p.   5453. 

7.  Ibid.,  p.  5595. 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  157 


children  of  the  State  and  free  from  sectarian  control"  and  eight  of  these 
states  have  literally  complied  with  this  condition.^ 

This  compact  is  not  the  only  safeguard  against  sectarian  control  of 
public  schools.  Four  states — Ohio,  Kansas,  Nebraska,  and  Mississippi,^ 
had  forbidden  such  control  even  before  the  school  controversy  came  to  a 
head,  while  Wisconsin  and  Nevada  had  prohibited  sectarian  instruction  in 
public  schools.^"  The  Wisconsin  and  Nevada  provisions,  since  the  school 
controversy,  have  been  substantially  copied  by  Nebraska,  Colorado,  Cali- 
fornia, Montana,  Idaho,  South  Dakota,  Wyoming  and  Arizona."  That 
there  are  not  more  such  provisions  is  undoubtedly  due  to  the  fact  that  an 
attempt  to  induce  public  schools  to  teach  sectarian  doctrines  was  not  gen- 
erally made  and  therefor  constituted  the  minor  phase  of  the  school  agita- 
tion. Though  relatively  unimportant  this  phase  of  the  controversy  has 
definitely  settled  one  of  the  principles  of  our  political  philosophy.  Says 
the  Iowa  court: 

"If  there  is  any  one  thing  which  is  well  settled  in  the  policies  and  purposes  of  the  American 
people  as  a  whole,  it  is  the  fixed  and  unalterable  determination  that  there  shall  be  an  absolute  and 
unequivocal  separation  of  church  and  state,  and  that  our  public  school  system,  supported  by  the 
taxation  of  the  property  of  all  alike — Catholic,  Protestant,  Jew,  Gentile,  believer  and  infidel — shall 
not  be  used  directly  or  indirectly  for  religious  instruction,  and  above  all  that  it  shall  not  be  made 
an  instrumentality  of  proselyting  influence  in  favor  of  any  religious  organization,  sect,  creed  or 
belief.^ 

This  leaves  the  major  phase  of  the  controversy  to  be  dealt  with.  This 
is  concerned  with  the  appropriation  of  public-school  funds  to  sectarian  in- 
stitutions. It  was  this  phase  against  which  President  Grant  directed  his 
attack  and  at  which  the  proposed  amendment  to  the  United  States  consti- 
tution was  aimed.  Like  the  minor  phase  it  had  been  anticipated  by  a  num- 
ber of  states.  Massachusetts  in  1855  had  provided  that  public-school 
money  "shall  never  be  appropriated  to  any  religious  sect  for  the  mainte- 
nance, exclusively,  of  its  own  school."^^  Five  other  states,  Wisconsin, 
Michigan,  Indiana,  Oregon  and  Minnesota",  had  forbidden  the  appropria- 
tion of  such  moneys  for  the  benefit  of  any  religious  or  theological  seminary 
or  institution. 

Such  anticipation  however  was  slight  compared  with  what  was  to  fol- 
low. State  after  state  fell  into  line  either  by  amending  its  constitution  or 
while  adopting  a  new  one.  The  provisions  adopted  of  course  vary  greatly 
in  detail.  Some  are  very  general ;  others  very  specific  indeed.  They  all, 
however,  have  one  object — to  prevent  the  appropriation  of  public-school 
funds  to  the  uses  of  sectarian  schools.  Lack  of  space  prevents  us  from  recit- 
ing these  provisions  in  detail.  All  that  can  be  done  is  to  enumerate  the 
states  which  have  taken  action.     Such  enumeration  is  imposing  enough. 


8.  Arizona  (1912).  Art.  20;  Montana  (1889),  Ordinance  attached  to  Constitution;  New  Mexico 
(1912),  Art.  21.  Sec.  4;  Oklahoma  (1907),  Schedule  attached  to  Constitution.  See  Art.  1,  Sec.  5; 
South  Dakota  (1889),  Art.  22,  Sec.  18;  Utah  (189.5).  Art.  .S.  See  Art.  10,  Sec.  1;  Washington 
(1889),  Art.  20.  See  Art.  9,  Sec.  4;  Wyoming  (1880),  Art.  21,  Ordinance,  Sec.  5.  The  same 
condition  was  imposed  on  North  Dalcota  and  was  fulfilled  by  its  constitution  of  1889  though  not 
in  the  form  of  a  compact.  Art.  8,  Sec.  147.  The  constitution  of  Idaho  of  1889  does  not  contain 
this  provision.     See  Art.  21,   Sec.  19. 

9.  Ohio  (18.51).  Art.  fi.  Sec.  2;  Kansas  (1859),  Art.  6,  Sec.  8;  Nebraska  (1866),  Art.  2,  Title, 
Education  Sec.  1;  Mississippi  (18G8),  Art.  8,  Sec.  9;  Washington  copied  such  a  provision  in  1889, 
Art.    9,    Sec.    4. 

10.  Wisconsin    (1848),    Art.    10,    Sec.    3;    Nevada    (1864),    Art.    11,    Sec.    9. 

11.  Nebraska  (1875),  Art.  8,  Sec.  11;  Colorado  (1876),  Art.  9,  Sec.  8;  California  (1879),  Art. 
9,  Sec.  8;  Montana  (1889),  Art.  11.  Sec.  9;  Idah^  (1889).  Art.  9.  Sec.  6;  South  Dakota  (1889),  Art. 
8,  Sec.  16.     See  Art.  6,  Sec.  3;  Wyoming  (1889),  Art.  7,  Sec.   12;  Arizona  (1912),  Art.  11,   Sec.  7. 

12.  1918,  Knowlton  v.   Baumhover,  182  Iowa  691,  1G6  N.   W.  202,   5  A.   L.   R.   841,848. 
18.     Massachusetts  Constitution,   18th  Amendment. 

14.  Wisconsin  (1848),  Art.  1,  Sec.  18;  Michigan  (1850),  Art.  4,  Sec.  40;  Indiana  (1851),  Art. 
1,  Sec.  6;  Oregon  (1857),  Art.  1,  Sec.  5;  Minnesota  (1857),  Art.  1,  Sec.  16.  The  Michigan  pro- 
vision was  readopted  by  the  constitution  of  that  state  of  1908. 


J'68  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 

Three  states,  New  Hampshire^^,  Minnesota'^,  and  Nevada^'',  the  first 
two  in  1877,  the  last  in  1880,  accomplished  results  by  constitutional  amend- 
ments. Illinois^^,  and  Pennsylvania^®,  acted  as  early  as  1870  and  1873  and 
Missouri^",  and  Alabama-^,  as  early  as  1875,  accomplishing  their  purpose 
through  new  constitutions.  Texas",  Colorado",  Georgia^*,  California^^, 
and  Louisiana'^,  had  acted  before  1880.  Florida  followed  in  1885^^,  and 
Idaho^^  Montana-®,  North  Dakota^'®,  South  Dakota='\  Washington^^^  and 
Wyoming,"^,  in  1889.  Mississippi^*,  and  Kentucky^^,  ushered  in  the  last 
decade  of  the  last  century  by  falling  in  line  in  1890  and  were  joined  by 
New  York^^,  South  Carolina^'^,  Utah^*,  and  Delaware^®,  before  the  dawn  of 
the  new  century.  Oklahoma*",  New  Mexico*^,  and  Arizona*^,  are  the  only 
states  admitted  into  the  Union  since  1900  and  by  their  constitutions,  adopted 
respectively  in  1907,  1911,  and  1912,  have  joined  the  procession.  Virginia 
in  1902  forbade  the  appropriation  of  public  funds  to  schools  not  owned  or 
exclusively  controlled  by  the  state  but  excepted  certain  non-sectarian  insti- 
tutions from  this  provision.*^  Massachusetts  in  1917  greatly  strengthened 
the  provision  above  referred  to**.  New  Hampshire,  Louisiana,  and  Ala- 
bama since  1900,  have  adopted  new  constitutions  which  retain  the  provision 
in  which  we  are  interested*^.  In  view  of  this  history  the  truth  of  a  state- 
ment by  the  South  Dakota  court  that  "the  policy  of  prohibiting  the  use  of 
funds  belonging  to  all  for  the  benefit  of  one  or  more  religious  sects  has 
been  adopted  in  most  of  the  states,"  is  indisputable. 

There  can  be  no  question  but  that  this  solution  is  the  only  feasible  one, 
no  matter  what  hardships  it  implies  to  those  who  retain  their  parochial 
schools.  Any  arrangement  by  which  parochial  schools  are  allowed  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  public  school  funds  cannot  but  result  in  political  pressure. 
The  first  result  is  a  close  public  control  over  the  denominational  schools. 

15.  New  Hampshire,  Art.  82.     This  provision  was  readopted  in  subsequent  constitutions. 

16.  Minnesota,  Art.  8,  Sec.  3. 

17.  Nevada,  Art.  11.  Sec.  10. 

18.  Illinois  (1870),  Art.  8,  Sec.  3. 

19.  Pennsylvania  (1873),  Art.  3,  Sec.  18;  Art.  10,  Sec.  2. 
ZO.  Missouri  (1875),  Art.  2,  Sec.  7. 

21.  Alabama  (1875),  Art.  12,  Sec.  8.     This  provision  was  readopted  in  1901. 

22.  Texas  (1876),  Art.  7,  Sec.  5;  Art.  1,  Sec.  7. 

23.  Colorado   (1876),  Art.  5,  Sec.  34. 

24.  Georgia  (1877),  Art.  1,  Sec.  14.     But  see  Art.  8,  Sec.   5. 

25.  California  (1879),  Art.  9,  Sec.  8. 

26.  Louisiana  (1879),  Art.  228.     But  see  Art.  53. 

27.  Florida  (1885),  Declaration  of  Rights,  Sec.  6;   Art.   12,  Sec.   13. 

28.  Idaho  (1889),  Art.  9,  Sec.  5. 

29.  Montana  (1889),  Art.  11,  Sec.  8. 

.30.  North  Dakota   (1889),  Art.  8,  Sec.  1,52. 

31.  South  Dakota  (1889),  Art.  8,  Sec.  16;  Art.  6,  Sec.  3. 

32.  Washington  (1889),  Art.  1,  Sec.  11;  Art.  9,  Sec.  4. 

33.  Wyoming    (1889),  Art.   1,   Sec.   19. 

34.  Mississippi   (1890),  Sec.  208. 

35.  Kentucky   (1890),  Sec.  189. 

36.  New  York   (1894),  Art.  9,  Sec.   4. 

37.  South  Carolina  (1895),  Art.  11,  Sec.   9. 

38.  Utah   (1895),  Art.  1.  Sec.  4;  Art.  10,  Sec.  13. 

39.  Delaware  (1897),  Art.  10.  Sec.  3. 

40.  Oklahoma   (1907),  Art.  2,   Sec.   5. 

41.  New  Mexico  (1911).  Art.  12,  Sec.  3. 

42.  Arizona    (1912),  Art.   2,   Sec.   12. 

43.  Virginia   (1902),  Art.  9,   Sec.   l-n 

44.  46th  Amendment  to  the  Massachusetts  counvaution. 

45.  New  Hampshire    (1902),  Art.   82;   Loiiisiana    (1913),   Art.    258,   but   see   Art.    63;    Alabama 
(1901),  Sec.  263. 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  isg 


The  next  result  is  the  entry  of  these  schools  into  pohtics  in  order  to  shape 
this  control  to  suit  their  own  purposes.  Where  one  denomination  or  a 
combination  of  them  becomes  strong  enough  a  shift  of  control  becomes  in- 
evitable. Instead  of  the  public  agencies  controlling  the  parochial  schools 
the  fact  will  be  that  the  parochial  control  the  public  schools.  The  utter 
impolicy  of  such  an  arrangement  has  been  vividly  illustrated  by  a  very 
recent  Iowa  case.  The  directors  of  a  school  district  for  a  "rent"  of  $2.50 
per  year  which  was  never  actually  paid  "leased"  the  upper  room  of  a 
Catholic  parochial  school,  which  school  thereupon  was  conducted  as  a 
unit,  the  older  pupils  being  instructed  by  the  sister  paid  by  the  school  dis- 
trict while  the  younger  children  received  instruction  from  another  sister 
who  was  paid  by  the  church.  Both  teachers  wore  their  religious  garb  and 
both  rooms  contained  the  customary  Catholic  images.  In  both  the  Catholic 
catechism  was  taught.  The  directors  cast  off  all  thought  of  attention 
except  that  they  yearly  appropriated  the  necessary  funds  and  went  through 
the  motions  of  contracting  with  the  teacher.  Though  the  situation  was 
nine  years  old  when  it  came  before  the  court  on  the  complaint  of  a  tax- 
payer, the  court  enjoined  the  parties  from  continuing  it,  stating  that  a  public 
school  had  been  perverted  into  a  parochial  school  and  that  public  funds  had 
been  misappropriated.**^  Therefore  the  Tennessee  court  says:  "It  is  con- 
trary to  law  and  to  public  policy  to  allow  the  public-school  money  to  be 
invested  in  property  in  which  any  religious  denomination  or  society  or  any 
other  person  has  any  interest  or  right."*" 

The  historical  development  just  outlined  casts  a  flood  of  light  over  the 
various  constitutional  provisions  above  mentioned.  It  would  seem  reason- 
able to  suppose  that  these  provisions  would  have  been  read  and  construed 
in  the  light  of  this  history.  Such,  however,  is  not  the  fact.  None  of  the 
judicial  opinions  which  touch  upon  this  matter  contain  the  slightest  refer- 
ence to  this  history.  Each  one  treats  the  provision  before  it  as  if  it  were 
an  isolated  phenomenon  of  state  history  totally  unrelated  to  a  national 
movement  of  imposing  magnitude.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  such  provisions 
have  at  times  been  misconstrued?  Is  it  remarkable  that  the  Wisconsin, 
Illinois  and  Nebraska  courts  have  read  out  of  them  a  prohibition  of  the 
mere  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the  public  schools,  a  proposition  so  much 
at  variance  with  the  aim  of  the  movement  that  the  proposed  constitutional 
amendment  to  the  federal  constitution  as  voted  on  by  the  senate  stated  that 
"this  article  shall  not  be  construed  to  prohibit  the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  any 
school  or  institution."*^  The  utter  absurdity  into  which  courts  who  are  not 
properly  enlightened  may  be  expected  to  descend  has  been  vividly  illus- 
trated by  the  Washington  court.  This  court  held  that  a  constitutional  pro- 
vision which  forbids  the  appropriation  or  application  of  public  money  or 
property  to  any  religious  worship,  exercise  or  instruction  prevents  a  school 
board  from  granting  credits  to  high-school  pupils  for  successfully  passing 
an  examination  covering  the  historical,  biographical,  narrative  and  literary 
features  of  the  Bible  based  upon  an  outline  provided  by  the  board,  though 
no  personal  instruction  is  to  be  given  in  the  school,  but  is  left  to  the  home 
or  church  of  the  student.*^ 

46.  1918,  Knowlton  v.   Baumhover.  182  Iowa  691,  166  N.  W.   202,   5   A.   L.   R.   841       See  als» 
1894.   Richter  v.  Cordes,  100  Mich.  278,   284,  56  N.   W.   1110. 

47.  1896.  Swadley  v.  Haynes,  41   S.  W.  1066,  1068  (Tenn.) 

48.  Congressional    Record,    Vol.    4,    Part   6,    p.    5453.      For   a   citation    of   these   cases    see   not* 
73  infra. 

49.  1918,  State  ex  rel.  Dearie  v.  Frazier,  108  Wash.  369,  178  Pac.  85.  L.  R.  A.  1918,  F.  1058. 


160  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 


THE   NEW  SITUATION 

We  are  now  principally  interested  in  a  new  development  of  parochial 
day  schools  which  are  to  cooperate  rather  than  compete  with  the  public 
schools.^"  The  passage  of  the  necessary  legislation  in  this  matter  will  be 
the  smallest  difficulty  encountered.  The  great  and  outstanding  task  will 
be  to  establish  the  constitutionality  of  these  statutes.  In  this  task  the  con- 
stitutional provision  above  outlined  will  be  relied  upon  by  the  opposition. 
Unless  the  courts  are  properly  informed  success  is  apt  to  attend  its  efforts. 
Unless  the  proper  contentions  are  made  the  judicial  council  chambers  may 
well  be  transformed  into  a  Pandora's  box  out  of  which  will  issue  wild 
misconceptions  of  the  import  of  these  constitutional  provisions  which  will 
plague  the  development  which  is  now  in  progress. 

The  judicial  construction  of  these  provisions  already  in  existence  is 
important  in  this  connection.  It  is  clear  indeed  that  they  are  self-execut- 
ing, require  no  legislation  to  make  them  effective,  and  apply  only  to  funds 
belonging  to  the  public  or  forming  a  part  of  the  public  revenues.^^  The 
word  "sectarian"  covers  every  denomination  and  forbids  the  use  of  public 
funds  directly  or  indirectly  for  the  support  of  any  church.^^  Their  purpose 
to  prevent  the  application  of  public  funds  to  denominational  schools  has 
been  uniformly  recognized  and  enforced^^  as  against  a  Y.  M.  C.  A.,°*  a 
denominational  college,^^  a  university,^^  a  privately  endowed  high-school j**^ 
and  even  as  against  denominational  industrial  schools  or  orphan  asylums,®^ 
though  as  to  the  latter  the  New  York^^  and  particularly  the  Illinois^^  courts 
have  relaxed  the  rule  on  the  ground  that  payment  of  less  than  the  cost  of 
maintenance  of  such  inmates  is  not  aid  within  the  meaning  of  the  con- 
stitution. The  same  result  has  been  reached  by  the  Wisconsin  court  in 
regard  to  reimbursement  of  denominational  schools  of  the  cost  occasioned 
by  the  attendance  of  soldier  beneficiaries.^" 

The  various  constitutions  forbid  public  aid  of  sectarian  institutions, 
but  do  not  proscribe  sectarian  aid  of  public  institutions.  Though,  there- 
for, a  county  is  prohibited  from  granting  land  to  sectarian  purposes  it  may 
allow  a  denominational  body  to  erect  a  building  on  its  poor  farm  and 
donate  it  to  the  county.®^  Similarly  a  sectarian  school  may  donate  the 
services  of  its  teachers  to  a  public  school.®^     Children  trained  in  sectarian 

60.     Cf.  article  by  C.  L.  Dibble,  following. 

51.  1888,  Cook  County  v.  Industrial  School  for  Girls,  125  111.  540,  570;  18  N.  E.  183,  8  Am. 
St.  Rep.  386,  1  L.  R.  A.  437. 

52.  188B,  State  v.  Hallock,  16  Nev.  373,  385,  387;  Knowlton  v.  Baumhover,  182  Iowa  691.  166 
W.  W.  202,  5  A.  L.  R.  841. 

53.  1913,  in  re  Opinion  of  the  Justices,  214  Mass.  599,  601,  102  N.  E.  464;  1917.  Williams  v. 
Stanton  Common  School  District,  173  Ky.  708,  725;  191  S.  W.  507,  L.  R.  A.  1917  D.  453  (with- 
drawing 172  Ky.  133,  188  S.  W.  1058)  ;  1879,  Otken  v.  Lamkin,  56  Miss.  75S,  764,  756. 

54.  1912,  Connell  v.  Gray,  33  Okl.  590,  127  Pac.  417. 

55.  1891,  Synod  of  South  Dakota  v.  State,  2  S.  D.  366,  373,  50  N.  W.  632;  14  L.  R.  A.  418. 

56.  1869,  Jenkins  v.  Andover,  103  Mass.  94. 

67.  1851,  People  v.  Board  of  Education,  13  Barb.  400  (N.  Y.) ;  1888,  Cook  County  v.  Industrial 
School  for  Girls,  125  111.  540,  558,  565,  18  N.  E.  183,  8  Am.  St.  Rep.  834,  36  Am.  St.  Rep.  438;  1888, 
State  V.  Hallock,  16  Nev.  373,  378. 

58.  1904,  Sargent  v.  Board  of  Education,  177  N.  Y.  317,  69  N.  E.  722.  But  see  St.  Patrick's 
Orphan  Asylum  v.  Board  of  Education,  34  How.  Prac.  229  (N.  Y.). 

59.  1893,  Stevens  v.  St.  Mary's  Training  School,  144  111.  336,  32  N.  E.  962,  18  L.  R.  A.  884^ 
36  Am.  St.  Rep.  438;  1917,  Dunn  v.  Addison  Manual  Training  School  for  Boys,  181  111.  352,  117  N.  E, 
993;  1918,  Trost  v.  Ketteler  Manual  Training  School,  282  111.  504,  118  N.  E.  743;  1919,  St.  Hedwi^ 
Industrial  School  for  Girls  v.  Cook  County,  289  111.  432,  124  N.  E.  629,  631. 

60.  1919,  State  v.  Johnson,  170  Wis.  251,  263,  264,  176  N.  W.  224. 

61.  1918,  Reichwald  v.  Catholic  Bishop  of  Chicago,  258  111.  44,  101  N.  E.  266. 

Of.     1908.  Donald  v.  Parker.  130  Ky.  501,  110  S.  W.  810.  ... 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  161 


schools  may  be  admitted  to  a  public  training  school  on  the  strength  of  such 
training.®^ 

There  is  no  provision  in  the  federal  constitution  prohibiting  the  appro- 
priation of  public  funds  to  sectarian  purposes.  Therefore  the  United  States 
government  is  at  liberty  to  make  contracts  with  church-controlled  hospitals®" 
and  even  to  grant  outright  donations  to  sectarian  institutions.®^  In  regard 
to  Ohio,  Congress  has  not  only  appropriated  Section  16  to  the  use  of  the 
public  schools  but  has  actually  granted  Section  29  within  a  limited  area  to 
the  use  of  religion.®®  Congress,  however,  in  1897  declared  against  any 
such  policy.®^  A  similar  declaration  made  some  years  previous,  but  limited 
to  Indian  affairs,  has  been  held  by  the  Supreme  court  not  to  cover  trust  or 
treaty  funds  belonging  to  the  Indians  which,  accordingly,  are  today  spent 
by  the  government  for  the  religious  education  of  its  Indian  wards.®^ 

It  goes  without  saying  that  the  various  governments  are  not  hostile 
to  sectarian  schools.  It  is  not  the  "public  policy  of  the  State  that  the  chil- 
dren of  the  state  shall  not  receive  any  education  in  any  other  school  than 
in  one  of  the  public  schools  established  by  itself."®"  Says  the  Missouri 
court:  "This  has  always  been  a  Christian  country,  and  there  is  nothing  to 
be  found  in  either  the  letter  or  spirit  of  our  law,  or  in  the  spirit  of  our 
repubfican  institutions,  that  disapproves  of  educational  institutions  under 
the  control  of  churches.^"  This,  of  course,  does  not  mean  that  the  state 
abdicates  the  power  of  regulating  these  institutions  so  as  to  prevent  abuses. 
The  historical  development  above  outlined  is  an  example  of  such  regulation. 
Another  has  been  produced  or  at  least  accelerated  by  the  world  war.  In  a 
very  large  number  of  states  statutes  have  been  passed  forbidding  in  both 
public  and  parochial  schools  the  use  of  foreign  languages  as  a  means  of 
instruction  to  pupils  under  a  certain  grade.-  Their  constitutionality  has  been 
upheld  in  Nebraska,  Iowa  and  Ohio.^^  For  our  purpose  it  is  interesting  to 
note  that  the  Iowa  court  has  laid  it  down  that  a  teacher  may  teach  his 
pupils  to  read  the  catechism  in  German,  but  he  cannot  teach  the  secular 
subjects  of  reading,  writing,  spelling,  grammar  in  any  foreign  language.  The 
Nebraska  court  in  a  similar  manner  has  said  that  "there  is  nothing  in  the 
act  to  prevent  parents,  teachers,  or  pastors  from  conveying  religious  or 
moral  instruction  in  the  language  of  the  parents,  or  in  any  other  language. 
or  in  teaching  any  other  branch  of  learning  or  accomplishment,  provided 
that  such  instruction  is  given  at  such  time  that  it  will  not  interfere  with 
the  required  studies." 

It  will  not  be  possible  at  this  time  to  deal  exhaustively  with  the  ques- 
tion of  the  leasing  of  church  or  parochial  school  property  for  public-school 
purposes,  the  wearing  of  religious  garbs  by  public-school  teachers  and  the 
interference  with  public-school  discipline  which  may  occur  where  a  religious 

63.  Commonwealth,  ex  rel.,  Wehrle  v.  Plummer,  21  Pa.  Dist.  Rep.  182. 

64.  1898,  Robert  v.  Bradfield,  12  App.  D.  C.  453,  472  (affirmed  175  U.  S.  291,  44  L  Ed  168 
20  S.  Ct.  121). 

65.  See  instances  cited  in  1898,  Robert  v.  Bradfield  supra. 

66.  1841,  State  v.  Trustees  of  Section  29,  11  Ohio  24,  26.  Sec.  1,  Art.  6,  of  the  Ohio  eon- 
stitution  of  1851  and  1912  speaks  of  property  entrusted  to  the  state  "for  educational  and  religious 
purposes." 

67.  29  Statutes  at  Large  688. 

68.  1908,  Quick  Bear  v.  Leupp,  210  U.  S.  50,  28  S.  Ct.  690. 

69.  1877,  Gilraour  v.  Pelton,  5  Ohio  Dec.  447,  452;  2  Wkly.  Law  Bui.   158. 

70.  1903,  SUte  v.  Trustees,  175  Mo.  52,  57. 

71.  1912,  State  v.  Bartcls,  —  Iowa  — ,  181  N.  W.  508,  618;  1921,  Pohl  v.  State,  —  Ohio 
— ,  132  N.  E.  20;  1919,  Nebraska  District  v.  McKelvie,  —  Neb.  — .  175  N.  W.  531,  534. 


162  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

holiday  falls  on  a  day  on  which  the  public  schools  are  open."-  Nor  will  it 
be  attempted  to  go  deeply  into  the  question  of  Bible-reading  in  the  public 
schools  beyond  stating  that  the  decision  of  the  Wisconsin,  Nebraska  and 
Illinois  courts,"  that  such  reading  constitutes  "sectarian  instruction"  or  is 
a  "sectarian  purpose,"  rests  on  a  clear  and  palpable  misconstruction  of  this 
term  as  is  apparent  from  a  knowledge  of  the  history  of  these  provisions. 

It  will  be  well,  however,  to  discuss  the  use  which  may  be  made  of 
public  school  property  for  religious  purposes.  It  has,  indeed,  been  a  gen- 
eral practice,  particularly  in  new  and  sparsely  settled  districts,  to  allow  the 
holding  of  religious  services  and  Sunday  schools  in  the  public-school  houses 
at  such  hours  as  not  to  conflict  with  the  conduct  of  the  schools.'^*  The 
question  has  arisen  whether  this  is  proper.  Some  courts,  in  passing  on 
this  question,  have  held  that  the  school  authorities  have  no  power  to  appro- 
priate the  school-building  to  any  use  not  strictly  educational,  and  have  there- 
fore enjoined  its  use  for  religious  services.^^  Other  courts  have  held  the 
determination  of  the  electors  or  school  officials  conclusive,  whether  the 
same  was  favorable  or  unfavorable  to  such  use.'^"  In  none  of  these  cases 
was  the  question  discussed  whether  or  not  such  use  was  in  harmony  with 
the  constitution  of  the  State.  The  Indiana  Appellate  Court  merely  has 
raised  the  question  whether  a  constitutional  provision  that  "no  man  shall 
be  compelled  to  attend,  erect,  or  support  any  place  of  worship"  is  violated 
by  such  use.'^^  The  Kansas  court  has  indicated  strongly  that  such  use 
amounts  to  taxation  for  private  purposes,  and  should  be  enjoined.^*  The 
Illinois  Supreme  Court  has  upheld  such  use  against  the  objection  that  it 
compelled  the  taxpayers  of  the  district  to  support  a  place  of  worship  against 
their  consent,  saying:  "Religion  and  religious  worship  are  not  so  placed 
under  the  ban  of  the  constitution  that  they  may  not  be  allowed  to  become 
the  recipient  of  any  incidental  benefit  whatsoever  from  the  public  bodies  or 
authorities  of  the  State. "^^  The  Nebraska  Court  has  held  that  religious 
meetings  held  in  a  school-house  on  Sunday  four  times  a  year  do  not  con- 
stitute it  a  place  of  worship.^" 

The  South  Carolina  court  in  holding  that  a  clause  in  a  deed  "for  the 
purpose  of  erecting  and  maintaining  a  public  school  for  white  children  only" 
does  not  prevent  religious  exercises  in  the  building  while  it  is  not  being 
used  for  school  purposes  said :  "Courts  in  a  Christian  land  cannot  be  sup- 
posed to  take  judicial  notice  that  holding  a  preaching  service  in  a  school- 
house  when  not  required  for  a  public  school  purpose  is  a  breach  of  the  con- 
dition, if  indeed  there  be  a  condition  in  the  deed."*^  The  Iowa  Court,  after 
declaring  that  the  propriety  of  such  use  "ought  not  to  be  questioned  in  a 


72.  See  Zollman's  "Church  and  School  in  the  American  Law,"  pp.  23-20.  published  by  Con- 
cordia Publishing  House.  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  for  a  more  detailed  statement.  Also  Zollman,  "American 
Civil  Church  Law,"  pp.  31-36. 

73.  1890,  State  v.  Edgerton  School  District,  7fi  Wis.  177,  44  N.  W.  007.  7  L.  R.  A.  330,  20 
Am  St.  Rep.  41:  1910,  People  v.  Board  of  Education,  245  111.  334,  92  N.  E.  251;  1902.  State  v. 
Shewe,  65  Neb.  853,  93  N.  W.   169,  59  L.  R.  A.  927. 

74.  1856,   Sheldon  v.   Center   School   District.   25   Conn.   224. 

75.  1858,  Scofield  v.  Eiphth  School  District.  27  Conn.  499;  1905,  Bagcerly  v.  Lee.  37  Ind. 
App.  139,  73  N.  E.  921;  1878,  Dorton  v.  Hearn,  67  Mo.  301;  1897,  Bender  v.  Streabish,  182  Pa.  251, 
37  Atl.  853;  1900,  Spring  v.  Harmar  Township,  31  Pitts.  Legal  J.   104. 

76.  1901,  Boyd  v.  Mitchell,  69  Ark.  202,  62  S.  W.  61;  1909.  School  Directors  v.  Toll,  149  111. 
App.  541;  1874,  Hurd  v.  Walters    48  Ind.  148;  1898.  Eckhardt  v.  Darby,  118  Mich.  199,  76  N.  W.  761, 

77.  1005,  BaRgerly  v.  Lee,  37  Ind.  App.   139,  73  N.   E.  921. 

78.  1875,   Spencer  v.  Joint  School   District,  15   Kans.  259,   22   Am.   Rep.   268. 

79.  1879,  Nicholls  v.  School  Directors,  93  111.  61,  64,  34  Am.  Rep,   160, 

80.  1914,  State  v.  Dilley,  —  Neb.  — ,  145  N.  W.  999. 

81.  J981,  Harmon  v.  Driggers.  —  S.  C.  — .  107  S.  E.  923. 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  163 

Christian  State,"^-  met  the  same  argument  with  which  the  IlHnois  Court 
had  been  confronted,  as  follows : 

"The  use  of  a  public  school-building  for  Sabbath  .  ,  .  schools, 
religious  meetings  .  .  .  which,  of  necessity,  must  be  occasional  and  tem- 
porary, is  not  so  palpably  a  violation  of  the  fundamental  law  as  to  justify 
the  courts  in  interfering.  Especially  is  this  so  where,  as  in  the  case  at  bar, 
abundant  provision  is  made  for  securing  any  damages  which  the  taxpayers 
may  sufifer  by  reason  of  the  use  of  the  house  for  the  purposes  named. 
With  such  precaution  the  amount  of  taxes  any  one  would  be  compelled  to 
pay  by  reason  of  such  use  would  never  amount  to  any  appreciable  sum. 
.  .  .  Such  occasional  use  does  not  convert  the  schoolhouse  into  a  building 
of  worship  within  the  meaning  of  the  constitution.''^-' 


82.  1872,  Townsend  v.   Hagen,  35  Iowa  194,   198. 

83.  Davis  v.  Boget.  50  Iowa  11,  15,  16.     See  Notes,  32  Am.  Cas.  303;  31  L.  R.  A.  (N.  S.)   693; 
L.  R.  A.  1917  D.,  462. 


Specific  Legal  Provisions  On  Week-Day  Schools* 

Charles  L.  Dibble 

The  movement  for  week-day  religious  education,  during  school  hours 
but  under  the  control  of  the  several  denominations,  has  resulted  in  numer- 
ous experiments  and  proposals.  These,  for  convenience,  may  be  grouped 
roughly  into  three  classes,  involving  somewhat  different  legal  problems.  Of 
these  types  there  are  numerous  modifications ;  but  it  is  believed  that  the 
principles  here  discussed  can  be  applied  without  difficulty  to  individual 
cases. 

TYPE  A.  A  room  is  set  apart  in  the  public-school  building,  to  which 
any  denomination  is  at  liberty  to  send  a  teacher  for  religious  instruction 
during  school  hours.  Children  whose  parents  so  request  are  sent  to  this 
room  from  their  class  rooms  at  the  time  assigned  to  their  denomination. 

TYPE  B.  Courses  in  religious  instruction  are  established  by  one  or 
more  denominations  in  their  own  church  buildings  at  hours  (during  school 
hours)  agreed  upon;  children  whose  parents  so  request  are  sent  from  their 
school  buildings  to  these  classes ;  the  courses  of  instruction  are  more  or  less 
under  the  supervision  of  the  public-school  authorities  and  credit  is  given 
for  work  completed  in  the  church  school,  and  attendance  enforced  under 
the  truancy  law. 

TYPE  C.  Same  as  Type  B,  except  that  the  instruction  is  not  in  any 
way  subject  to  the  supervision  of  the  public-school  authorities  and  no  credit 
is  given.  Attendance  is  not  enforced  under  the  truancy  law.  If,  however, 
the  child  habitually  absents  himself  from  the  church  school,  that  fact  is  re- 
ported to  the  public  school,  and  the  privilege  of  attendance  withdrawn. 


"Mr.  Charles  L.  Dibble,  Attorney,  of  Kalamazoo,  Michigan,  prepared  a  report  for  the  Episcopal 
Synod  of  the  province  of  the  Midwest  on  "Legal  Aspects  of  Religious  Education  in  the  States 
Comprising  the  Province  of  the  Midwest."  This  dealt  with  the  Constitutional  Provisions  as  well 
as  with  the  particular  applications  of  legislation.  Mr.  Dibble  kindly  granted  permission  for 
the  publication  of  that  part  of  his  report  which  will  supplement  the  preceding  paper  by  Mr.  Zollman. 
While  he  is  discussing  the  legal  provisions  of  the  states  of  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Indiana  and 
Ohio,  he  takes  up  the  points  which  occur  most  frequently  in  any  state.  It  must  be  remembered,  iii 
reading,  that  the  first  part  of  Mr.  Dibble's  paper,  dealing  with  general  principles  and  constitutional 
provisions,  is  omitted. — (The  Editor.) 


164  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 

LEGAL  DECISIONS 

The  question  of  specific  religious  instruction  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  anywhere  adjudicated,  except  in  the  case  of 

State,  ex  rel.  Dearie  vs.  Frazier,  (Wash.)  173  Pac.  35. 

In  that  case  the  state  constitution  provided : 

"All  schools  maintained  or  supported  wholly  or  in  part  by  the  public 
funds  shall  be  forever  free  from  sectarian  control  or  influence  .... 
No  public  money  or  property  shall  be  appropriated  for  or  applied  to,  any 
religious  worship,  exercise,  or  instruction,  or  the  support  of  any  religious 
establishment." 

It  was  held  that  a  scheme  whereby  children  were  instructed  in  denomi- 
national schools  in  the  Bible  from  a  literary  standpoint,  the  course  being 
inapped  out  by  the  superintendent  of  schools,  the  examination  prepared  by 
the  principal  of  the  high  school,  papers  graded  by  public  school  teachers, 
and  credit  given,  was  in  violation  of  these  provisions.  The  scheme,  it  was 
held,  made  the  religious  instruction  a  part  of  the  regular  school  curriculum 
and  hence  that  part  of  the  school  work  was  placed  under  "sectarian  control 
and  influence."  It  was  also  held  that,  since  the  plan  required  considerable 
time,  of  the  school  teachers,  for  which  they  were  paid  by  the  state,  it 
amounted  to  "appropriating  public  money  for  religious  instruction." 

In  the  writer's  opinion  the  reasoning  is  not  sound.  As  to  the  first  ob- 
jection, it  would  seem  that  the  constitutional  prohibition  against  "sectarian 
control  or  influence"  was  intended  to  prevent  exclusive  control  or  monopoly 
by  one  sect  as  against  the  others,  either  by  way  of  financial  support  or  en- 
forcing attendance  of  non-adherents,  as  Cooley  puts  it,  giving  an  advantage 
to  one  sect  over  another.  But  the  plan  in  question  favored  no  denomina- 
tion; nor  did  it  require  any  person  to  attend  the  instruction  against  his 
conscience.  Still  less  could  objection  be  made  to  the  plan  considered  in  this 
brief,  in  which  the  religious  instruction  is  not  even  confined  to  the  Bible. 
So  long  as  Catholic  and  Protestant,  Jew,  Mohammedan  and  Free  Thinker 
are  alike  permitted  to  participate,  and  each  may  instruct  his  youth  in  his 
own  way,  the  scheme  can  hardly  be  called  sectarian.  In  other  words,  it  is 
only  discrimination  between  sects  which  the  constitution  intends  to  bar. 
Such  must  have  been  the  intent.  For  we  find  most  of  the  courts  commend- 
ing religious  training,  and  the  constitution  of  Ohio  and  Michigan  naming 
it  as  one  of  the  objects  of  the  schools;  yet  there  can  be  no  rehgious  (as 
distinguished  from  ethical)  instruction  which  does  not  involve  religious 
belief.  As  to  the  second  objection,  it  may  be  said  that  the  amount  of  time 
required  of  the  public-school  teachers  in  the  work  of  supervision  is  so  small 
as  to  be  negligible.  In  the  words  of  the  maxim,  "De  minimis  non  curat  lex." 
It  is  no  more  an  appropriation  of  money  for  religious  instruction  than  is 
the  exemption  from  taxation  which  is  accorded  to  church  property.  In 
most  states  there  is  provision  for  the  inspection  and  supervision  of  paro- 
chial schools  by  the  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction;  and  this 
has  never  been  held  to  be  a  wrongful  use  of  pubHc  money. 

However  that  may  be,  the  authority  of  the  Washington  case  is  dimin- 
ished by  the  fact  that  the  language  of  the  constitution  of  the  state  of  Wash- 
ington, quoted  above,  diflfers  from  that  of  the  constitutions  of  most  of  the 
states  of  the  Union.  The  prohibition  against  "religious  instruction"  con- 
tained in  the  Washington  constitution  is  very  much  broader  than  "sectarian 
instruction." 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  165 


Another  angle  from  which  these  constitutional  provisions  have  been 
discussed  by  the  courts  is  upon  the  question  as  to  whether  a  school  board 
has  the  right  to  permit  the  use  of  the  school  building,  at  such  time  as  not 
to  interfere  with  the  regular  school  hours,  for  religious  services  or  instruc- 
tion, or  for  the  use  of  lodges  or  other  purposes  not  connected  with  regular 
school  work. 

On  this  question  the  courts  are  hopelessly  at  variance. 

On  the  one  hand  it  is  held  that  such  use  is  improper. 

Hysong  vs.  School  District,  164  Pa.  629 ;  26  L.  R.  A.  203, 
is  particularly  interesting,  because  it  involves  a  state  of  facts  on  all  fours 
with  the  question  we  are  discussing  under  Type  A,  and  because  the  opinion 
goes  very  thoroughly  into  the  authorities  and  is  exceedingly  well  reasoned. 
We  quote  one  paragraph  which  seems  to  sum  up  the  argument  of  the  court. 

"The  use  of  the  public  school  building  in  imparting  religious  instruc- 
tion after  school  hours,  in  the  manner  detailed  by  us  in  our  conclusions  of 
fact,  is  not  only  a  violation  of  the  fundamental  law  of  the  state  in  that  the 
instruction,  being  purely  and  essentially  sectarian  in  character,  is  prohibited, 
but  the  directors  exceeded  their  authority  in  permitting  any  such  use  to  be 
made  of  the  building.  It  is  very  clear  to  us  that  the  prohibition  of  the 
appropriation  of  money  raised  for  the  support  of  the  public  schools  to  sec- 
tarian schools  includes  the  use  of  the  public  school  buildings  erected  by 
such  money,  for  any  sectarian  purpose.  But  there  is  a  further  reason  for 
restraining  the  use  of  public  school  buildings  for  this  purpose,  as  well  as 
for  any  other  purpose  foreign  to  public  school  instruction ;  and  that  is  that 
the  building  having  been  erected  for  a  particular  corporate  purpose,  the 
corporate  authorities  cannot  authorize  its  use  for  any  other." 

Substantially  the  same  holding  in  the  following  cases: 

Bender  vs.  Streabich,  182  Pa.  251 ;  37  Atl.  853. 

Lewis  vs.  Bateman,  26  Utah  434 ;  7Z  Pac.  509. 

Scofield  vs.  School  District,  27  Conn.  499. 

Dorton  vs.  Heam,  67  Mo.  301. 

Spencer  vs.  School  District,  15  Kan.  259;  22  Am.  Rep.  268. 

On  the  other  hand  a  considerable  line  of  authorities  take  the  other  view. 
In  the  case  of 

Nichols  vs.  School  District,  93  111.  61 ;  34  Am.  Rep.  160,  the  argument 
is  stated  thus : 

"Religion  and  religious  worship  are  not  so  placed  under  the  ban  of  the 
constitution  that  they  may  not  be  allowed  to  become  the  recipient  of  any 
incidental  benefit  whatsoever  from  the  public  bodies  or  authorities  of  the 
state.  That  instrument  itself  contains  a  provision  authorizing  the  legisla- 
ture to  exempt  property  used  for  religious  purposes  from  taxation ;  and, 
thereby,  the  same  as  is  complained  of  herein,  there  might  be  indirectly  im- 
posed upon  the  taxpayer  the  burden  of  increased  taxation,  and  in  that 
manner  the  indirect  support  of  places  of  worship." 

Sustaining  this  view  are  the  following: 

Sugar  vs.  Monroe  108  La.  677,  59  L.  R.  A.  723. 

Sheldon  vs.  School  District,  25  Conn.  224. 

Greenbanks  vs.  Boutwell,  43  Vt.  207. 

Barnes's  Appeal,  6  R.  I.  591. 

Chaplin  vs.  Hill,  24  Vt.  528. 

Townsend  vs.  Hagan,  35  Iowa  194. 

Davis  vs.  Boget,  50  la.  11. 

Cost  vs.  Shinault  (Ark.)  166  S.  W.  740. 


166  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

The  decisions  in  the  following  states  are  as  follows : 

Illinois,  in  the  Nichols  case  quoted  above,  held  that  a  statute  permitting 
the  use  of  the  building  outside  of  school  hours  for  religious  worship  was 
not  unconstitutional.    This  case  has  been  followed  by  the  following: 

Lagow  vs.  Hill,  238  111.  428 ;  87  N.  E.  369. 

School  District  vs.  Toll,  149  111.  App.  541. 

In  Wisconsin,  on  the  other  hand,  it  was  held  in  the  early  case  of 

School  District  vs.  Arnold,  21  Wis.  657, 
that  even  a  vote  of  the  electors  of  the  school  district  may  not  authorize  the 
incidental  use  of  a  school  building  for  meetings  other  than  those  connected 
with  the  school.     That  case  has  recently  been  quoted  with  approval  in  the 
case  of 

Tyre  vs.  Krug,  159  Wis.  39;  L.  R.  A.  1915,  C.  624. 

In  Indiana  it  seems  to  have  been  held  in  the  case  of 

Hurd  vs.  Walters,  48  Indiana,  148, 
that  the  use  of  a  school  house  for  other  than  school  purposes  might  be  au- 
thorized by  a  vote  of  the  tax-payers. 

But  in  the  later  case  of 

Baggerly  vs.  Lee,  37  Ind.  App.  139;  7Z  N.  E.  921, 
it  was  held  that  the  statute  authorizing  such  use  of  the  building  when  not 
used  for  school  purposes  should  be  construed  to  apply  only  to  summer  vaca- 
tions and  periods  when  the  school  was  entirely  closed.  As  to  whether  or 
not  a  statute  authorizing  the  use  of  the  building  after  school  hours  would 
be  constitutional  the  court  has  not  expressed  an  opinion. 

In  Michigan  the  question  does  not  seem  to  have  been  passed  upon 
directly,  although  it  would  appear  that  such  use  might  be  permitted  or  re- 
fused by  a  vote  of  the  electors  of  the  school  district. 

Eckhardt  vs.  Darby,  118  Mich.  199,  76  N.  W.  671. 

In  Ohio  in  the  case  of 

Weir  vs.  Day,  35  Ohio  State,  143, 
the  court  declared  invalid  a  lease  of  the  school  building  to  a  private  school ; 
but  in  doing  so  said : 

"We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  a  court  of  equity  will  interpose  its  extraor- 
dinary power,  by  writ  of  injunction,  against  every  casual  or  temporary  use  of 
such  property  for  other  than  public  school  purposes." 

The  question  does  not  appear  to  have  been  further  elucidated  by  the 
Ohio  court. 

II.       STATUTORY  PROVISIONS 

We  now  pass  to  the  statutory  provisions  of  the  several  states  in  so  far  as 
they  affect  the  three  plans  for  week-day  religious  instruction.* 

In  considering  statutory  provisions  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that,  un- 
derlying the  three  types  of  religious  instruction  which  we  have  indicated, 
there  are  two  theories  whereby  such  instruction  is  sought  to  be  justified: 
(a)  On  the  theory  that  such  religious  instruction  forms  a  proper  part  of  the 
regular  school  curriculum,  and  (b)  that  such  instruction  does  not  form  a  part 
of  the  public  school  curriculum,  but  that  the  child  is  to  be  deemed  excused 
from  school  while  taking  this  instruction. 

With  this  thought  in  mind  we  will  consider  the  statutory  provisions  as 
to  (a)  whether  religious  instruction  may  form  a  part  of  the  regular  curri- 


•See  the  analysis  of  "Types"  at  the  opening  of  this  paper. 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  167 


culum  and  (b)  whether  the  truancy  laws  are  so  framed  as  to  permit  excus- 
ing the  child  from  school  for  religious  instruction. 

As  to  the  curriculum  of  the  schools,  the  statutes  of  Ohio,  Indiana  and 
Wisconsin  list  certain  elementary  subjects  which  are  to  be  required  in  every 
school.  In  the  other  states  one  or  two  special  subjects  are  mentioned,  but 
the  curriculum  in  general  is  in  the  discretion  of  the  local  school  board.  Even 
in  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Wisconsin  it  is  held  that,  provided  the  subjects  laid 
down  by  law  are  taught,  the  local  board  has  entire  discretion  to  provide  for 
instruction  in  additional  subjects  not  prohibited  by  law. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  in  none  of  the  states  of  this  Province*  is  there 
any  statutory  regulation  which  would  prevent  making  religious  instruction 
a  part  of  the  school  curriculum.  The  matter  is  entirely  in  the  discretion  of 
the  local  board,  subject  however  in  all  cases  to  the  constitutional  restrictions, 
as  they  have  been  interpreted  and  applied  by  the  courts  of  that  particular 
state. 

We  will  now  note  the  truancy  laws  of  the  several  states  as  bearing  upon 
the  legality  of  excusing  children  from  school  for  religious  instruction, 
under  the  second  theory,  namely  that  the  religious  school  does  not  form  a 
part  of  the  public  school  curriculum. 

WISCONSIN.  "Any  person  having  under  his  control  any  child  be- 
tween the  ages  of  seven  and  fourteen  years  .  .  .  shall  cause  such  child 
to  be  enrolled  in  and  to  attend  some  public,  parochial  or  private  school  regu- 
larly (regular  attendance  for  the  purpose  of  this  statute  shall  be  an  attend- 
ance of  twenty  days  in  each  school  month  unless  the  child  can  furnish  some 
legal  excuse),  in  cities  of  the  first  class  during  the  full  period  and  hours 
of  the  calendar  year  (religious  holidays  excepted)  that  the  public,  parochial 
or  private  school  in  which  such  child  is  enrolled  may  be  in  session;  in  all 
other  cities  not  less  than  eight  school  months  and  in  towns  and  villages  not 
less  than  six  school  months  in  each  year  (here  follow  provisions  excepting 
children  not  in  proper  physical  condition  to  attend  school,  or  living  more 
than  two  miles  from  a  school  house,  or  having  already  completed  the  work 
of  the  first  eight  grades).  Instruction  during  the  required  period  elsewhere 
than  at  school,  by  a  teacher  or  instructor  selected  by  the  person  having  con- 
trol of  such  child,  shall  be  equivalent  to  school  attendance,  provided  that 
such  instruction  received  elsewhere  than  in  school  be  at  least  substantially 
equivalent  to  instruction  given  to  children  of  like  ages  in  the  public,  paro- 
chial or  private  school  where  such  children  reside." 

ILLINOIS.  "Every  person  having  control  of  any  child  between  the 
ages  of  seven  and  sixteen  years  shall  annually  cause  such  child  to  attend 
some  public  or  private  school  for  the  entire  time  during  which  the  school 
attended  is  in  session,  which  shall  not  be  less  than  six  months  of  actual 
teaching,  provided  however  that  this  act  shall  not  apply  in  case  the  child 
has  been  or  is  being  instructed  for  a  like  period  in  each  and  every  year  in 
the  elementary  branches  of  education  by  a  person  or  persons  competent  to 
give  such  instruction.  .  .  .  Or  in  case  the  child  is  excused  for  tempo- 
rary absence  for  cause  by  the  principal  or  teacher  of  the  school  which  said 
child  attends." 

OHIO.  Every  boy  between  eight  and  fifteen  and  every  girl  between 
eight  and  sixteen  is  required  to  attend  a  public,  private  or  parochial  school 

'Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Indiana,  Ohio. 


168  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

*'for  the  full  time  that  the  school  attended  is  in  session,  which  shall  in  no 
case  be  less  than  twenty-eight  weeks  .  .  .  unless  the  child  is  excused 
therefrom  by  the  superintendent  of  the  public  schools  .  .  .  upon  satis- 
factory showing  .  .  .  that  the  child  is  being  instructed  at  home  by  a 
person  qualified,  in  the  opinion  of  the  superintendent,  to  teach  the  branches 
named  in  the  next  preceding  sections." 

INDIANA.  "It  shall  be  the  duty  of  every  parent,  guardian  or  other 
person  having  control  or  charge  of  any  child,  to  cause  such  child  to  attend 
regularly  a  public,  private  or  parochial  day  school,  .  .  .  for  a  term  or 
period  not  shorter  than  that  of  the  common  schools  of  the  school  corpora- 
tion in  this  state  where  the  child  resides.  This  section  shall  apply  to  every 
child  not  physically  or  mentally  disqualified,  as  hereinafter  provided,  who 
shall  be  of  the  age  of  seven  years  and  of  not  more  than  fourteen  years." 

MICHIGAN.  "Every  parent,  guardian  or  other  person  having  control 
or  charge  of  any  child  between  the  ages  of  seven  and  sixteen  years  shall  be 
required  to  send  such  child  ...  to  the  public  schools  during  the  entire 
school  year,  and  such  attendance  shall  be  continuous  and  consecutive  for 
the  school  year  fixed  by  the  district  in  which  such  parent,  guardian,  or  other 
person  in  parental  relation  may  reside.  .  .  .  Provided,  that  in  the  fol- 
lowing cases  children  shall  not  be  required  to  attend  the  public  schools: 
(a)  Any  child  who  is  attending  regularly  and  is  being  taught  in  a  private 
or  parochial  school  which  has  complied  with  all  the  provisions  of  this  act, 
.  .  .  or  who  upon  completion  of  the  work  in  such  schools  shall  present 
satisfactory  evidence  that  he  has  completed  sufficient  work  to  entitle  him 
to  an  eighth  grade  diploma.  .  .  .  (f)  Any  child  twelve  to  fourteen 
years  of  age  while  in  attendance  at  confirmation  classes  conducted  for  a 
period  of  not  to  exceed  five  months  in  either  of  said  years." 

We  have  in  the  case  of  each  state  omitted  sections  which  have  no  bear- 
ing upon  this  question,  and  which  provide  for  relaxation  of  the  compulsory 
school  law  in  case  of  children  having  a  permit  to  work  or  who  reside  a  cer- 
tain distance  from  the  school  house,  or  being  excused  for  physical  disabil- 
ity, et  cetera. 

It  will  be  seen  by  comparing  these  statutes  that  the  law  of  Wisconsin, 
Illinois  and  Ohio  provides  that  the  child  shall  attend  for  the  entire  time 
during  which  the  school  attended  is  in  session,  except  for  the  exceptions 
enumerated  above.  In  Illinois,  Ohio  and  Wisconsin  the  parent  is  permitted 
to  provide  for  private  instruction,  if  it  is  substantially  equivalent  to  that 
given  in  the  public  school  and  is  given  by  a  competent  person.  In  Indiana 
and  Michigan  such  private  instruction  is  not  permitted. 

It  would  seem  therefore  that,  if  the  religious  school  is  not  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  part  of  the  public  school  curriculum,  but  request  is  to  be  made 
that  the  child  should  be  excused  from  school  for  attendance,  that  such 
request  should,  in  the  states  of  Indiana  and  Michigan,  be  based  upon  the 
theory  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  compulsory  school  law  requiring  attend- 
ance during  the  entire  period  of  each  day.  In  the  states  of  Illinois,  Ohio 
and  Wisconsin,  where  attendance  is  required  during  all  the  school  hours,  it 
should  be  based  upon  the  proviso  contained  in  those  statutes,  that  the  child 
may  receive  equivalent  private  instruction. 

It  may  be  that  the  courts  will  apply  a  somewhat  more  liberal  construc- 
tion to  the  phrase,  "the  entire  time  during  which  the  school  is  in  session" 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  169 

than  I  have  applied  here.  However,  as  I  have  just  stated,  assuming  that 
this  is  given  a  strict  construction,  the  request  that  the  child  be  excused  from 
school  may  in  those  states  having  such  provision  be  based  upon  the  provi- 
sion for  equivalent  outside  instruction. 

III.       CONCLUSIONS 

Let  us  apply  these  principles  of  law  to  the  three  plans  for  religious  in- 
struction described  at  the  outset. 

TYPE  A.  This  type,  in  addition  to  presenting  all  of  the  problems  in- 
volved in  the  other  types,  raises  also  the  question  of  the  right  to  use  part 
of  the  school  building  for  religious  instruction.  If  the  light,  heat  and  jani- 
tor service  were  furnished  by  the  school  district,  it  would  probably  be  con- 
strued as  an  improper  appropriation  of  public  money.  If  the  various  de- 
nominations paid  a  rental  sufficient  to  cover  these  items  and  compensation 
for  the  use  of  the  room,  there  would  be  no  legal  objection  to  the  plan  in 
Illinois,  and  probably  not  in  Indiana,  Ohio  and  Michigan.  In  Wisconsin, 
however,  it  seems  that  such  use  of  the  school  building  would  not  be  per- 
mitted under  any  conditions. 

TYPE  B.  This  type  involves  the  question  as  to  the  right  of  the  school 
board  to  give  credit  in  the  public  school  for  work  done  in  the  denomina- 
tional school.  Two  legal  objections  interposed  against  this  plan  were  stated 
and  discussed  in  connection  with  the  Frazier  case. 

What  our  courts  may  hold  we  may  only  conjecture  from  the  not  very 
analogous  cases  concerning  prayer  and  Bible  reading.  The  proposed  plan 
might  be  regarded  as  more  objectionable  than  Bible  reading,  because  it  is 
frankly  dogmatic.  Or  it  might  be  regarded  as  less  objectionable,  because 
more  purely  voluntary.  The  plan  certainly  obviates  the  argument  advanced 
against  religious  school  exercises  by  the  Wisconsin  and  Illinois  courts,  that 
it  is  unfair  to  place  the  child  not  wishing  to  attend  in  the  position  of  having 
to  be  specially  excused.  In  the  proposed  plan,  the  reverse  is  true, — the  child 
is  not  permitted  to  attend,  unless  specially  requested  by  his  parents. 

As  a  mere  conjecture  we  should  say  that  the  plan  would  be  approved 
by  the  courts  of  Michigan,  Ohio  and  Indiana  and  disapproved  in  Wisconsin, 
with  Illinois  doubtful. 

TYPE  C.  This  scheme  contemplates  a  complete  divorce  of  the  church 
school  from  the  public  school  system.  No  credit  is  asked  for  work  accom- 
plished; and  attendance  is  not  enforced  under  the  truancy  law.  If  the 
child  is  habitually  truant  from  the  church  school,  he  is  simply  reported  to 
the  public  school  authorities  and  the  privilege  of  attendance  is  withdrawn. 
The  work  of  the  church  school  is,  then,  in  no  sense  a  part  of  the  school  cur- 
riculum. In  legal  efifect  the  child  is  excused  from  school  in  order  to  attend 
the  church  school  on  the  ground  that  the  absence  is  for  his  well-being  and 
presents  reasonable  ground  for  that  privilege. 

This  plan  presents  none  of  the  features  which  might,  in  some  juris- 
dictions, militate  against  the  other  two.  It  does  not  involve  the  use  of  a 
public  building,  or  any  expenditure  of  the  time  of  the  public-school  teach- 
ers, nor  does  it  make  the  religious  instruction  in  any  way  a  part  of  the 
public-school  curriculum. 

It  does,  however,   raise  the  question  as  to   whether  the  compulsory 


170  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 

school  law  authorizes  the  local  authorities  to  permit  the  child  to  absent  him- 
self from  school  during  the  school  hours. 

By  reference  to  section  II  of  this  brief  it  will  be  noted  that  in  Michigan 
and  Indiana  there  is  no  statutory  requirement  that  the  child  should  attend 
the  public  school  during  each  hour  of  the  day  that  it  is  in  session.  On  the 
other  hand,  in  Illinois  and  Wisconsin,  where  there  is  such  a  requirement,  it 
is  mitigated  by  the  proviso  that  the  parent  is  permitted  to  instruct  the  child 
privately,  so  long  as  the  instruction  is  substantially  equivalent  to  that  given 
in  school  and  the  instructor  is  a  competent  person.  There  would  therefore, 
seem  to  be  no  legal  objection  in  any  of  the  states  to  this  plan  of  religious 
instruction. 

CONCLUSION.  It  should  not  be  understood  that  the  three  types 
discussed  in  this  brief  exhaust  all  possible  plans  for  week-day  religious  edu- 
cation. There  are  endless  variations  and  combinations  to  suit  local  condi- 
tions. But  for  clearness  it  has  been  deemed  best  to  arrange  them  as  has 
been  done.  Deductions  can  easily  be  drawn  from  the  cases  here  digested 
to  apply  to  the  individual  case.  It  would  seem  that,  while  the  first  type 
would  be  objectionable  in  many  states  and  the  second  type  in  a  few  states, 
the  third  type  would  be  entirely  legal  in  any  state  having  laws  such  as  the 
states  of  this  Province. 


FINDINGS  OF  THE  CONFERENCE 

The  Nineteenth  Annual  Convention  of  the  Religious  Education  Asso- 
ciation is  confronted  by  conditions  which  present,  on  the  one  hand,  a  chal- 
lenge to  greater  achievement  and,  on  the  other,  a  ground  for  faith  that  this 
challenge  will  be  met. 

The  challenge  is  found  in  conditions  which  compel  our  frank  confes- 
sion of  failure  thus  far,  with  all  that  has  been  done  in  the  name  of  religious 
education,  to  achieve  a  social  experience  worthy  of  religious  ideals. 

Our  ground  for  faith  is  sound,  first  of  all,  in  the  face  of  this  confes- 
sion, for  the  first  step  toward  improvement  is  in  the  recognition  of  the 
need. 

Another  ground  of  this  faith  is  to  be  found  in  the  marked  increase  of 
intelligent  interest  in  the  aims  and  methods  of  religious  education  mani- 
fested both  by  individuals  and  by  organized  groups. 

A  striking  illustration  of  this  interest  is  found  in  the  development  of 
and  the  widespread  interest  in  the  week-day  school  of  religion  which  we 
have  here  discussed,  an  interest  further  evidenced  by  the  unexpectedly  large 
and  very  representative  attendance  at  this  convention. 

We  recognize  in  this  new  movement  what  may  prove  to  be  a  most 
efTective  agency  in  bringing  about  that  improvement — the  need  of  which  we 
admit — provided  that,  at  its  inception  it  has  the  guidance  of  a  trained  leader- 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  171 

ship  moving  toward  carefully  defined  aims  and  taking  advantage  of   the 
best  that  modern  education  has  to  offer. 

This  movement  at  present  represents  a  fine  expression  of  religious  de- 
votion with  a  recognition  that  something  is  wrong,  or  at  least  inadequate 
in  our  present  programs  of  education.  But  there  is  also  need  of  fearless 
self-examination  and  criticism.  We  must  develop  an  educational  con- 
science. We  must  recognize  that  with  religious  consecration  there  must  be 
a  consecration  to  educational  science,  and  that  joining  these  two  we  may  hope 
to  build  a  program  of  religious  education  worthy  of  our  faith  in  God. 

AIMS 
The  aim  of  this  movement  is  not  mere  instruction ;  it  is  not  dogmatic 
or  ecclesiastical.    We  have  as  our  goal  the  more  and  more  adequate  living 
of  children  in  society,  measured  by  the  standards  of  religion. 

CURRICULUM 

It  is  plainly  evident  that  the  prevailing  type  of  curriculum  centers  in 
biblical  instruction.  It  is  admitted,  however,  that  the  value  of  this  instruc- 
tion is  to  be  tested  by  its  results  in  experience.  This  conference  has  given 
evidence  of  a  strong  and  growing  consciousness  that  these  values  will  be 
more  adequately  achieved  by  a  curriculum  which  is  organized  about  the 
experiences  of  children  in  society  and  that  this  approach  would  also  conserve 
the  distinctive  values  of  biblical  instruction. 

ORGANIZATION 
Each  of  the  various  types  of  organization  now  in  use  has  certain  advan- 
tages. It  is  clearly  evident  that  we  have  not  yet  reached  the  stage  of  develop- 
ment at  which  organization  can  be  standardized.  Indeed,  it  is  doubtful  if 
any  one  type  of  organization  can  be  devised  which  will  satisfactorily  meet 
the  needs  of  all  communities.  The  ideal  seems  to  be  as  close  an  approxi- 
mation to  the  community  type  as  the  local  conditions  make  advisable. 

SUPERVISION 

The  problems  of  supervision  in  the  school  of  religion  are  not  essen- 
tially different  from  those  in  the  general  field  of  education.  Skilled  and 
efficient  supervision  is  absolutely  essential.  The  function  of  the  supervisor 
is  to  cooperate  with  teachers  while  they  are  working  out  their  tasks  in 
improving  the  quality  of  their  teaching  and  in  developing  a  more  adequate 
religious  educational  experience  for  the  children. 

PUBLIC  SCHOOL  RELATIONSHIPS 
The  week-day  school  is  challenged  by  both  the  public  school  and  the 
child  to  justify  its  claim  for  a  share  of  their  time  and  attention.  School 
boards  will  not  feel  at  liberty  to  grant  a  portion  of  that  time  of  the  pupil 
for  which  they  are  responsible  unless  they  are  assured  that  the  experience 
of  the  pupil  in  the  school  of  religion  will  measure  up  to  public-school  stand- 
ards, nor  will  pupils  give  their  attention  to  a  program  which  does  not  awaken 
real  interest.  This  is  a  legitimate  challenge  and  one  that  the  school  of 
religion  must  frankly  meet. 

Provided  this  challenge  is  met,  however,  the  school  of  religion  is 
entitled  to  the  opportunity  to  make  its  vital  contribution  to  the  education 


172  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 

of  the  child.  The  importance  of  this  contribution  of  the  school  of  religion 
is  as  clearly  and  sympathetically  recognized  by  the  public-school  men  as  by 
the  church  itself.  The  greatest  hope  of  a  satisfactory  solution  of  these 
problems  of  relationship  is  found  in  this  mutually  sympathetic  and  co- 
operative attitude. 

We  affirm  the  principles  stated  in  the  resolutions  of  the  Association  at 
the  conference  of  1916: 

"The  church  and  state  are  to  be  regarded  as  distinct  institutions,  which, 
as  far  as  possible,  cooperate  through  the  agency  of  their  common  consti- 
tuents in  their  capacity  as  individual  citizens. 

"The  work  of  religious  instruction  and  training  should  be  done  by 
such  institutions  as  the  home,  the  church,  and  the  private  school,  and  not 
by  the  public  school  nor  in  official  connection  with  the  public  school." 

TEACHING  METHODS 

The  problem-project  type  of  teaching,  rightly  understood,  involves  pur- 
poseful participation  by  children  in  the  educational  process  and  making 
projects  and  problems,  growing  out  of  the  life  of  children  and  having 
religious  significance,  the  basis  and  center  of  the  teaching.  This  is  not  so 
much  a  method  as  a  point  of  view,  and  a  point  of  view  within  which  all 
valuable  elements  in  the  older  approaches  find  their  place.  Teachers  work- 
ing from  this  approach  can  as  readily  grow  into  skill  as  under  more  tradi- 
tional methods  and  its  manifest  superiority  in  the  production  of  results 
leads  us  to  recommend  it  as  the  general  basis  upon  which  the  school  of 
religion  should  be  developed. 

PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS 

It  is  apparent  that  high  standards  of  professional  training  for  teachers 
are  a  requisite  for  the  success  of  week-day  programs  of  religious  education. 
Such  programs  may  be  postponed  until  teachers  trained  under  such  profes- 
sional standards  can  be  secured,  or  such  professional  training  may  be  de- 
veloped in  part  in  experimental  schools  of  religion  where  there  is  trained 
supervision. 

CONCLUSION 

Modern  complex  social  conditions  have  raised  a  problem  for  the  solu- 
tion of  which  the  religious  education  already  developed  is  inadequate. 
Those  interested  in  the  progress  of  religion  have  been  baffled  by  these  con- 
ditions. The  week-day  religious  school  seems  to  give  hope  of  realizing  for 
the  modern  world  a  religious  training  more  nearly  adequate  to  meet  pres- 
ent conditions.  But  the  significance  of  the  movement  depends  upon  the 
trend  of  its  development.  If  the  week-day  school  simply  gives  more  in- 
struction of  the  type  which  modern  education  has  rejected,  the  future  of 
the  movement  is  doomed.  If  it  follows  the  trend  which  seems  to  represent 
the  conviction  of  this  convention  and  is  embodied  in  these  findings,  we 
shall  find  in  it  a  most  significant  agency  of  religious  education. 

Herbert  W.  Gates, 
J.  W.  F.  Davies, 
Marie  Cole  Powell, 
William  James  Mutch, 
Harrison  S.  Elliott. 


CHARTS  OF  THE  SURVEY 


173 


SURVEY  CHARTS 


GRAPHS  PREPARED  BY  B.   WARREN  BROWN,  PH.   D.,  ON  THE  BASIS  OF  THE  REPORTS   IN   THE 
SURVEY  OF   WEEK-DAY  SCHOOLS  OF  RELIGION. 


LocaiionySchoob 

by  States 


174 


WEEK-DAY    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 


Growth 

of 

Movement 

by 

Schoob 


300 


290  Schools 


250 


■200 


•150 


100 


•SO 


1  School 

t— >4—     .        .        .       . , . , . , — -^ — —^ , 

©09  1912  1915  1918  1921  1923 


CHARTS  OF  THE  SURVEY 


175 


CONTROL 

\Local  Church\  \CommumtyBoord 


Type  I       Type  II 


Type  in 


144 
SCHOOLS 


SCHOOLS 


cV^- 


169 
SCHOOLS 


176 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 


SINGLE 
SCHOOIS 


SCHOOLS 

IN 

SYSTEMS 


CHARTS  OF  THE  SURVEY 


177 


Attendance 

Per  cent  byr  Schools 
96%-100?J  16 
91?^  -  95%  67 
86^-  90r.  35 
^\Yo-  85%  21 
Under  81??        20 

Median  %      91 
Minimum  %       50 

Grades  iWht 


SCHOOLS 

18  ■ 

16   I 

34  ■ 
60  I 
27    ■ 


6r<Lde 


18 
17 


MEDIAN 


K         Oivlt^ehoo) 


324  Schools  repot^ 


178 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 


Time  /Instruction 


320  Schoo/s  reporting 


During  School  Hours 
219 

Durii^ 
and 

After 
23 

After 
53 

Other 
25 

Reciting 


Classes  Lei^ofPeriod 


Once  av/eck«  1553 

Twice  a  v/eeK-  350 

Three  times  189 

Oficner  41 


30Tnmute5 

385dK)ob 

30-40  minutei 

34 

40-50  minutw 

63 

I  hour 

102 

l^hour5 

9 

1^  hours 

21 

MijCe)1aneou5 

8 

287 

Median  one  hour  ei  A\?€eK  per  child 


CHARTS  OF  THE  SURVEY 


179 


Financial  Support 


180 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 


COST  PER  SCHOOL 

(ANNUAL) 


Median 


NoCost 
"^or  Less 


^•^25 


^25-^50 


-^50-^5 


^5-^00| 


'8100-5^200 


Average 


/g00">)^500 


^500-;^1000 


^mo'^zooo 


#2000'/5000 
Over^SOOO 


1:2 


lis  2i4  3-0     3!3 


Number  of  Schools 


CHARTS  OF  THE  SURVEY 


181 


100 


Cost  per  Pupil 

19  21 

Expended  per  Pupil 


75t 


Z5f 


16 
Schools 

fl9 

♦5 

$2 
$1 

5 
Schools 

12 
Schools 

15 
Schools 

6 
Schools 

56 
Schools 

15 
Schools 

32  Schools 

SeeOtlior  ColurriTv 

165  Schools  Reporting 

Z  expend  over $15  per  pupil 
6  report  "no  cost" 


182 


WEEK-DAY   REUGIOUS   EDUCATION 


EQUIPMENT 


Ariificial  onlV' 
Z7      ^ 


Natural  only 
202      ' 


,Gi«iri 
ll5chool5 


Pdriih 

Houses 

52 


CHARTS  OF  THE  SURVEY 


183 


Public  School  Credit 


No  Credit 


1955chools 


Credii 


nOSchooIs 


Excused  from  5chool  ActivHie5 


Study  Period 
177 


^S^JcAoo/s 


Recitdtion 
156 


184 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 


Public  School  Supervision 

^2  Schoob^poriti^ 


MicnH 


CHARTS  OF  THE  SURVEY 


185 


Enrolled  in  Sunday  Sdiool 

of  22,987  pupils  in  203  AVeek-day  Schools 


Median  number  from  d  v/pekrday  school  dUendit^SundciySchool'-ZO 
Extremes      8  dnd  363  pupib 


186 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 


SUPERVISION 

and 

ADMMSTRMION 


by  86 
PA8tor5 
(pArt  time) 


by  11 
PuUic School  OfficidlS 
(pariiime) 


no 

Schools 


PdrtTimo 
2 


Schools  with 


by  23 
Directors 
(part  time?) 


19 


35 

* 


64 
Schools 


^upcfvisoM 

3  4i 


T 

Directors 


*  Source  of  supervision  not  reported 


CHARTS  OF  THE  SURVEY 


187 


Salaries  ^/Supervisors 


Over  $150 

$1E5-$150 

$100 -$125 

$50-$r5 

$3G-$50 

$11 -$25 

None 

Over  $2000 

$1500-$2000 

$1000-$1500 

$500-$1000 

$200-$5OO 

$100-^200 

$50 

None 


-1 

-2 

Monihly 

(IDGSchoolsf 

— 5 
-3 

—16 

-36 

73 


-2 

Annual 

(l34Scl700l5) 

— 5 
-3 

27 

•1 

IS) 

■73 


188  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 


%cimm^of  SupervboriS 

{191  Rpporis) 


ColWe 


Somtnary 


Edurdiion 

Study 
^^H  School 

ll 


""^^  «« 


n  70  48  155  88  12  13 


CHARTS  OF  THE  SURVEY 


180 


TEACHER3 
VOLUNTEEK,^/?«'PAID 

■Usin^  Vo1untGor5    D  Usin^  Paid  Teachers  aU^iag  Doih 
3Z3  Schoohl^poriin^ 


888  Tocfch^rs  R^portmg 
lVolun"t<?©r  D  Pdid 


190 


WEEK-DAY  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 


Teachers  Salaries 


Over  $100 
$76-$100 
$50''$75 


$26-$50 

$ll-$25 

Unaer$10 

None 


PER  MONTH 


18 


■25 


■19 


-IE 

■10 


2 !5  Schools  B§poriir^ 


-122 


Ov«r  $1500 
llOOO-'llSOO 
$500-$1000 
$300-*$500 
$2O0-$3OO 
$100-$200 
$100  or  less 
Kone 


-11 

•10 


-5 
■4 


ANNUAL 


-35 


J93  Schools  R^portin^ 


122 


CHARTS  OF  THE  SURVEY 


191 


Training  /^Teadiers 

Z68  Schools  I^portin^ 

TRAINED  IN 


"Number  of 
500  '^'^^'^^ 


250- 

ECO- 

150- 

100 

50 

0 


M. 


N.$.Only 
21+    ' 


Normdl 

179 


3<:hoor 


Seminary 


Cntde  School 


jT 


100  150  200 


Schools 
Employmc 


192 


WEEK-DAY  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 


Ixpericncc/Teachers 


Employed 

by 

175 

Schools 


Employed 

by 

27 
Schools 


Employed 

by 

64 
Schools 

Employfd 

by 

78 

Schools 

HifliSchool 
^1 


special  only 
71 


Public  School 
340 


Sunddy  School 
only 
166 


Employed 

by 

45 
Schools 


College 

15 


CHARTS  OF  THE  SURVEY 


193 


ENROIIMENT 

{JOOSchoois  B^poriini) 

by  Size  of  school? 


Poy5 


h300$diools 


Toidl 


Over 
150  Pupils 


101 
to 
150 


51 
io 
100 


50 

Pupils 

or 

less 


300$dtool5 


ZOO 


100 


Girl^ 


msaioeb 


Total  pupils  32J26 


194 


WEEK-DAY  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 


EnrolliiientliyGrades 


3861 


3500 


3000- 


2500- • 


2000  ■ 


1500 ■■ 


1000- 


500  • 


^io.ofCld«es  25      118     13?     177     Wl     206   209     161     m     86     76     7^     7^ 


CHARTS  OF  THE  SURVEY  195 


OnniiamtkeEiifoMeiit 

1920^21  and  VWf^ZZ 

{76  Schoi^sB^oriintf) 


itfhooM 


35 
5ehooi$ 


10,S95  Pupils 

j'""" ■"" mil iiHiiHiii 


iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiim 


3^- 
5dho6IS 


ww»»winimn>iiiiiim»mnnm n ,„,, 


"**^^*""""" - "••""TrTi 


1.153 


1.000 


NetDecrea5el83 


196 


WEEK-DAY  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 


Activities 

hZf  Schools  reporting) 


The  Workers  in  Conference 

An  Analysis  and  Summary  of  the  thought  of  those  who  participated 
in  the  Conference  on  Week-Day  Religious  Education  conducted  by  The 
Religious  Education  Association,  and  held  at  the  Congress  Hotel,  Chicago, 
March  31st  and  April  1st,  1922. 

The  Program  for  this  Conference  was  organized  by  The  Council  of  The 
Religious  Education  Association.  The  papers  were  prepared  and  printed 
in  advance,  an  extensive  and  thorough  Survey  had  been  made  and  issued ; 
the  statistical  data  had  been  reduced  to  graphic  charts,  and  various  phases 
of  week-day  school  activity  were  presented  in  the  form  of  exhibits  and 
graphs,  so  that  for  seven  crowded  sessions  the  large  body  of  workers  could 
concentrate  on  the  discussion  of  specific  problems.  At  the  beginning  the 
Conference  there  was  appointed  a  Committee  on  Findings,  instructed  to 
follow  the  thread  of  discussion  through  every  session  and  to  endeavor  not 
so  much  to  express  their  own  opinions  as  to  state  the  judgment  of  the  con- 
ference as  it  developed,  to  present  a  photograph  of  the  mind  of  the  con- 
ference on  the  problems  of  week-day  work.  This  committee  consisted  of 
the  persons  whose  names  appear  at  the  end  of  this  summary  and  following 
the  "Report  on  Findings."  In  preparation  for  this  report  they  presented  a 
statement  of  their  "findings"  at  each  session,  thus  reviewing  the  work  of  the 
conference  as  they  proceeded.  The  summary  which  follows  is,  in  the  main, 
their  report  as  prepared  session  by  session.* 

Theme  of  the  First  Session:  WJmt  are  the  Aims  of  the  Week-day 
schools  of  Religion? 

The  conference  was  clearly  divided  into  two  groups  on  the  question 
of  approach: 

I.     One  group  advocated:  "Teach  the  Bible  and  trust  it  to  do  its  own 
work." 

II.  The  other  group  placed  its  emphasis  upon  behavior,  social  living, 
functioning  of  the  Bible  in  life. 

The  first  group  expressed  convictions  as  follows:  Store  tlie  mind  with 
biblical  material  and  it  will  have  its  inevitable  results.  Secure  a  large  in- 
crease of  memory  deposit.  Get  across  as  much  of  the  Bible  as  you  can  in 
the  one  hour  a  week.    Make  information  and  memory  two  of  the  aims. 

Some  suggested  definite,  clear,  dogmatic  teaching  of  the  Bible  and  per- 
petuation of  the  Christian  religion  as  interpreted  by  each  church. 

The  emphasis  of  the  other  group  was  upon  improving  society ;  develop- 
ing habits,  attitudes  and  appreciations  that  would  result  in  definitely  Christian 
conduct ;  social  living ;  Christian  citizenship ;  behavior ;  social  control  by  folks 
whose  lives  are  motivated  by  religious  ideals ;  to  bring  the  experience  of 
religion  into  more  close  contact  with  the  week-day  experience  of  the  children. 

If  the  discussion  was  a  reflection  of  the  sentiment  of  the  gathering,  the 
majority  conviction  was  with  the  group  who  desired  to  teach  the  Bible  and 
allow  it  to  do  its  own  work. 

Another  group  of  objectives  gathered  around  the  question  as  to  whether 
the  denominational,  interdenominational  or  community  emphasis  should  be 
dominant. 

1.     Some  wanted  distinctly  denominational  instruction  and  asked 
that  we  should  expect  from  the  week-day  school  church  loyalty, 

•A  complete  stenographic  report  of  the  discussion  is  published  in  "Rkugious  Educatioh"  for 
June,  1023. 

197 


198  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 


church  membership  and  an  increase  of  the  interest  of  the 
church  in  religious  education. 

2.  Others  felt  that  the  denominational  work  should  be  conducted 
in  the  Sunday  school,  and  week-time  instruction  should  be 
inter-denominational,  and  that  the  week-day  school  gave  the 
opportunity  for  the  denominations  to  work  together,  to  learn 
one  from  the  other  and  to  develop  a  community  spirit  in 
religion.  To  this  end  the  work  should  be  correlated  and  have 
common  elements  in  order  to  secure  this  community  result. 

3.  Some  would  go  still  further  and  have  community  schools  in 
which  nothing  would  be  taught  to  which  the  constituency — 
Protestant,  Catholic  or  Jewish — objected,  with  the  purpose  of 
securing  mutual  respect  for  each  others  faith.  These  felt  that 
this  did  not  involve  leaving  Christ  out  of  the  teaching. 

4.  One  suggestion  was  made  that  the  spiritual  fundamentals  be 
taught  independent  of  personalities  and  denominational  pro- 
grams and  could  be  put  into  the  public  schools. 

There  seemed  to  be  little  or  no  support  for  the  last  proposition;  but 
the  conference  was  rather  evenly  divided  between  the  first  three. 

III.  Very  little  of  the  discussions  centered  on  the  distinctive  things 
which  week-day  religious  education  should  contribute.  The  following  were 
mentioned  and  seemingly  generally  agreed  to :  Supplement  the  Sunday  school 
by  giving  more  time  for  religious  education.  Reach  the  unchurched  and  the 
children  spiritually  untaught.  Fill  out  secular  education  by  including  the 
religious  element  and  letting  children  feel  that  religion  is  really  a  part  of 
education.  Secure  greater  frequency  of  impression  than  once  a  week  will 
make  possible. 

The  opening  session  brought  to  the  fore  certain  major  issues  which  will 
doubtless  become  more  sharply  defined  as  the  conference  proceeds. 
What  is  our  goal: 

Imparting  truth  and  knowledge  or  conduct  and  behavior  ? 
Shall  subject  matter  be  considered  as  an  end  or  a  means  to  an  end? 
Which  do  we  need  the  more,  an  increase  in  the  amount  of  religious 
education  or  a  new  type  of  religious  education? 
What  shall  be  our  method : 

Study  the  Bible  direct,  or  a  problem  project  approach? 
Theme  for  the  Second  and  Third  Sessions :  Problems  of  the  Civrriciditm. 
These  may  be  summarized  under  three  heads : 
I.     Existing  Types  of  Curricula 
II.     Standards  of  Evaluations  of  Curricula  Material 
III.     Practical  Problems  of  Curriculum  Building 
I.     Existing  Types 

Five  types  distinguished  in  the  published  paper  which  formed  part  of 
the  background  for  the  discussion. 

A.  Roman — ecclesiastical 

B.  Protestant — ecclesiastical 

C.  Biblical — dogmatic  type. 

D.  Types  characterized  by  enrichment  and  adaptation  of  mate- 
rial ;  by  this  and  coordination  of  Instruction,  Worship  and 

;  Service 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  199 

E.  Primacy-of-purpose  type  in  which  real  experiences  of  actual 
situations  on  the  part  of  the  pupil  form  the  basis  of  the  curri- 
culum. 

On  the  basis  of  the  discussion  it  was  evident  that  the  majority  of  the 
present  week-day  schools  would  be  classed  under  Types  C  or  D.  However, 
the  reports  from  schools  indicate  that  very  few  schools,  in  which  the  cur- 
riculum consists  solely  or  mainly  of  biblical  material,  admit  the  purely  dog- 
matic ideal  or  purpose.  Their  use  of  the  biblical  material  in  this  manner 
is  justified  by  local  conditions,  the  evident  need  of  better  knowledge  of  the 
Bible,  and  faith  in  its  power  to  influence  life. 

With  reference  to  the  type  of  curriculum  characterized  by  enrichment 
of  material  and  coordination  of  instruction,  worship  and  service ;  suggestions 
were  made  as  to  the  specific  opportunities  which  exist. 

The  preliminary  survey  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  large  majority 
of  week-day  schools  have  not  fully  realized  the  opportunities  afforded  both 
for  the  experience  of  worship  itself  and  for  training  in  the  meaning  and  art 
of  worship.  Attention  was  called  to  the  serious  character  of  this  neglect  of 
a  fundamental  aim  in  religious  education. 

Discussion  from  the  floor  and  reports  from  schools  indicate  that  the 
fears  which  have  evidently  deterred  some  schools  from  including  worship 
in  the  curriculum  are  not  well  grounded,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  the  week- 
day school  not  only  meets  a  very  real  need  in  the  lives  of  its  pupils,  but 
it  aflfords  excellent  opportunities  under  its  usually  more  skilled  leadership 
for  the  development  of  genuine  appreciation  of  religious  values. 

The  opportunities  of  further  enrichment  of  the  curriculum  through  the 
fine  arts  of  hymn-singing,  and  choral-singing,  community  ritual,  pageantry 
and  visualization  were  also  presented. 

It  seemed  fairly  evident,  so  far  as  represented  by  the  discussion  and 
reports,  that  the  curricula  of  comparatively  few  schools  could  be  classed 
as  of  the  primacy  of  purpose  type  in  which  the  personal  experience  of  the 
pupil  is  regarded  as  the  basis  of  the  curriculum  material. 

II.  Standards  of  Evaluation 

Professor  Artman  presented  the  main  points  of  his  published  article 
which  formed  the  basis  of  discussion  on  this  point. 

1.  The  evaluation  of  all  plans  and  methods  must  be  upon  the  basis 
of  achievable  results  in  human  living.  This  goal  of  adequate  living  is  the 
ultimate  standard. 

2.  The  application  of  the  standard.  The  process  of  evaluation  must 
proceed  by  a  scientific  method  which  is  characterized  by  at  least  four  ele- 
ments. 

(a)  Interest  in  the  prosecution  of  an  immediate  task. 

(b)  The  utilization  of  past  experience  in  the  guiding  of  present 
experience. 

(c)  The  persistent  search  for  better  ways  and  more  fundamental 
principles. 

(d)  Devotion  to  dynamic  truth. 

The  lack  of  definite  discussion  on  these  points  might  fairly  indicate  that 
few  schools  are  consciously  using  the  scientific  method  as  thus  defined  in  the 
development  of  their  curricula. 

III.  Practical  Problems  of  Curriculum  Building 

Two  main  problems  were  stated  at  the  outset  of  the  discussion:  how 
to  strengthen  the  general  program  of  religious  education  through  the  work 


200  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 

of  the  week-day  schools ;  and  how  to  utilize  to  the  best  advantage  the  new 
and  sometimes  unique  opportunity  which  these  schools  present. 

Among  these  opportunities  were  mentioned  the  comparative  freedom 
from  the  power  of  tradition,  the  chance  of  using  the  pupil's  experience  as 
an  individual  and  that  of  others  in  organized  form  (such  as  is  afforded  by 
the  C.  C.  T.  P.,  Scouts,  Camp  Fire  Girls,  etc.)  and  thus  to  give  the  child 
real  experience  in  living,  and  in  the  progressive  interpretation  and  control 
of  his  own  experience. 

Three  other  types  of  special  problems  were  discussed : 

1.  The  correlation  of  the  week-day  curriculum  with  that  of  the  Sun- 
day school  or  church.  The  discussion  on  this  point  indicated  two  main  types 
of  effort  in  this  direction : 

(a)  That  in  which  correlation  of  subject  matter  seems  to  be  the 
basic  idea. 

(b)  Those  in  which  the  correlation  of  the  pupils  experience  is  the 
guiding  principle. 

The  discussion  seemed  to  indicate  that  the  majority  of  the  attempts  are 
of  the  former  kind. 

2.  The  problem  of  dealing  with  the  current  maladjustments  in  social 
living.  Apparently  comparatively  few  of  the  programs  have  attempted  to 
attack  this  problem  in  any  conscious  manner,  although  there  were  some  ex- 
ceptions. 

3.  The  problem  of  divergent  views  on  questions  of  biblical  interpre- 
tation, theological  teachings,  etc.  The  reality  of  the  problem  was  recognized 
and,  also,  the  fact  that  it  was  not  entirely  unwholesome  that  differences  of 
opinion  should  exist.  The  discussion  brought  out  the  need  for  firmness 
and  the  courage  of  one's  convictions  on  the  part  of  all  forward-looking 
people  in  a  time  of  reaction,  combined  with  an  attitude  of  sympathy  and 
respect  for  the  views  of  others,  and  a  thoroughly  constructive  method. 

Two  other  practical  problems  were  recognized. 

1.  The  necessity  of  being  careful  to  adapt  plans  and  methods  to  the 
ability  of  teachers.  In  reply  it  was  stated  that  the  need  was  not  merely 
that  of  technical  skill  but  of  the  right  point  of  view,  and  that,  furthermore, 
the  necessity  is  upon  us  of  training  teachers  who  shall  have  both  the  view- 
point and  the  skill  required. 

2.  The  lack  of  suitable  curriculum  material.  This  brought  out  the 
caution  against  thinking  of  a  curriculum  as  something  ready-made  to  be 
handed  over  to  the  school  and  the  teachers.  On  the  contrary,  the  week-day 
school  should  recognize  its  opportunity  and  its  obligation  to  share  in  the 
task  of  developing  curricula  and  also  standards  for  their  evaluation. 

Theme  for  the  Fourth  Session:  Problems  of  Organization  and  Super- 
vision. 

Four  types  of  organization  were  presented  as  follows: 

I.  The  Denominational  type,  representing  unrelated  work  carried  on 
by  individual  local  churches. 

II.  The  Cooperative  group  type  in  which  several  local  churches,  while 
united  in  their  approach  to  the  Board  of  Education,  carry  on  individual 
schools,  and  work  together  upon  essential  organization  matters,  through  a 
Community  Board  of  Religious  Education  with  limited  jurisdiction,  and 
through  a  Community  Director  with  advisory  responsibilities. 

III.  The  Community  System,  in  which  the  religious  forces  of  the  com- 
munity join  together  in  maintaining  non-denominational  community  schools 

of  religion. 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  201 

IV.  The  Protestant  Christian  Citizenship  type,  commonly  known  as 
the  Maiden  Plan,  in  which  the  purpose  is  to  build  up  a  city-wide  system  of 
education  parallel  to  the  public  school  system  in  its  type  of  organization  and 
maintained  by  the  voluntary  cooperatives  of  Protestant  citizens. 

The  Denominational  type  has  the  advantages  of  being  more  easily  or- 
ganized and  of  enabling  a  local  church  to  put  on  a  more  unified  program. 

The  Cooperative  group  type  is  found  where  it  is  possible  to  secure 
cooperation  between  the  churches,  with  recognition  of  the  identity  and 
autonomy  of  the  local  church  week-day  school,  but  where  the  merging  local 
churches  in  a  community  school  would  not  be  practicable.  It  also  enables 
the  churches  to  work  together  with  little  extra  financial  burden. 

Both  of  these  types,  because  of  the  autonomy  of  the  local  schools,  fail 
to  provide  common  standards  of  work,  and  divide  the  children  by  denomina- 
tions, thus  cutting  across  the  social  groupings  of  the  public  school. 

The  third  type,  the  Community  system,  is  financially  the  most  economical 
if  adequate  schools  are  to  be  established.  Because  of  its  non-demoninational 
character  it  makes  the  widest  appeal  to  the  community  and  is  likely  to  receive 
more  cordial  support  from  the  public  school  officials.  It  makes  possible  the 
placing  of  the  week-day  schools  of  religion  convenient  to  the  public  schools 
and  thus  is  likely  to  secure  a  more  complete  attendance  of  the  children. 

It  is  claimed  for  the  Maiden  Plan,  that,  because  of  its  stable  and  thor- 
oughly non-demoninational  type  of  organization  it  makes  more  possible  the 
cooperation  of  public  spirited  Protestant  citizens.  Questions  from  the  floor 
indicated  some  doubt  as  to  whether  this  plan  had  demonstrated  its  entire 
practicability  in  the  conduct  of  week-day  schools  for  children. 

There  seemed  to  be  a  common  conviction  on  the  part  of  those  presenting 
the  first  three  types  that  the  third  plan,  the  Community  system,  is  ideally 
the  most  desirable,  but  that  under  certain  local  conditions  the  others  may 
be  more  advisable.  The  speakers  seemed  to  recognize  the  place,  even  in  a 
community  plan,  for  denominational  schools,  each  dealing  with  matters 
distinctive  of  its  own  communion. 

It  sees  a  fair  conclusion  from  the  discussion,  that  under  present  condi- 
tions no  one  type  can  be  assumed  as  the  best  for  all  communities  or  to  be 
universally  adopted. 

There  seemed  to  be  general  assent  to  the  statement  that  the  essential 
factor  to  success  was  securing  the  cooperation  of  the  public  schools  especially 
in  the  matter  of  granting  time. 

Theme  for  the  Fifth  Session :  Problems  of  Public-School  Relationships. 

The  basis  for  discussion  was  the  analytic  paper  presented  by  Dr.  Jesse 
B.  Davis  (given  in  full  elsewhere).  An  interesting  discussion  arose  as  to  the 
right  of  the  people  to  ask  for  time  from  public-school  schedules  to  be  devoted 
to  this  independent  religious  instruction.  It  was  pointed  out  that,  by  this 
means,  the  religious  groups  are  taking  over  a  part  of  the  burden  of  the 
schools,  they  are  discharging  duties  to  childhood  that  the  public  schools  can- 
not discharge. 

A  spirited  discussion  arose  on  the  wisdom  and  propriety  of  week-day 
schools  of  religion  using  the  buildings  of  public  schools ;  while  many  advo- 
cated this  procedure  where  public  sentiment  was  favorable,  especially  when 
rental  was  paid  for  the  use  of  rooms,  the  burden  of  opinion  seemed  to  rest 
strongly  on  the  other  side,  urging  that  it  was  best  for  these  schools  to  remain 
entirely  independent  of  the  state  and  civil  resources.  There  was  no  doubt 
as  to  the  necessity  of  entire  separation  of  the  work  of  the  state  and  the 
churches  at  all  other  points. 


202  WEEK-DAY  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 

Theme  for  the  Sixth  Session:  Teaching  Methods. 

The  discussion  centered  particularly  about  the  nature  and  value  of  the 
problem-project  plan.  It  brought  out  the  fact  that  this  was  to  be  regarded 
not  so  much  as  a  method  as  a  point  of  view.  There  was  general  agreement 
as  to  the  value  of  this  point  of  view. 

Cautions  were  emphasized  as  to  the  too  hasty  adoption  of  methods 
growing  out  of  the  point  of  view  which  teachers  had  not  been  trained  to 
use.  The  importance  of  the  teacher's  contribution  to  the  control  of  the 
teaching  situation  was  pointed  out. 

The  question  was  raised  as  to  whether  untrained  teachers  could  use 
the  problem-project  approach  and  whether  it  was  too  difficult  for  the  ordi- 
nary school.  Conviction  was  expressed  that  teachers  could  be  trained  to  use 
this  point  of  view  as  readily  as  the  other  and  its  manifest  superiority  in 
the  production  of  results  really  lays  upon  us  the  obligation  of  finding  ways 
to  use  it. 

Theme  for  the  Seventh  Session :  Problems  as  to  Professional  Standards, 

Here  the  discussion  focussed  very  sharply  on  the  importance  of  the 
work  of  teachers  and  on  the  consequent  need  of  extended,  thorough,  special- 
ized preparation,  and  on  the  need  of  placing  the  work  of  teaching  in  such 
schools  upon  a  definitely  professional  basis.  The  difficulty  of  securing  teach- 
ers was  urged,  as  well  as  the  present  difficulty  of  enlisting  young  people  in 
college  in  the  task  of  preparation  for  this  profession.  But  it  was  strongly 
urged  that  it  is  better  to  delay  starting  schools  until  properly  equipped  work- 
ers can  be  found  than  to  begin  with  illy  trained  persons  or  with  those  who 
are  amateurs.  The  desirability  of  providing  proper  compensation  for  work 
in  this  field  was  emphasized. 

The  Eighth  Session  was  devoted  to  the  discussion  and  adoption  of  the 
report  of  the  Committee  on  Findings. 


WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  203 

INDEX 

Abingdon  Week-Day  Series  in  Curriculum 104 

Activities,  Survey  of   50 

Administration  and  Supervision    37 

Aims  of  Week-Day  Instruction  (Sargent) 74 

Aims  of  Week-Day  Religious  Education   (Betts) 70 

Aims  of  Week-Day  Religious  Education  (Stewart) 119 

Aims   of  Week-Day   Schools 15,  69-91 

Amount  of  Instruction  per  Week  per  Pupil 23 

Art  and  Music  in  Schools   (Smith) 140 

Artman,  J.  M.,  Evaluation  of  Curriculum 100 

Athearn,  W.  S.,  The  Maiden  Plan 127 

Attendance  Reports   • 4& 

Batavia,  Illinois  Schools 64 

Betts,  G.  H.,  Aims  of  Week-Day  Religious  Education 70 

Bible  in  Week-Day  Schools 17 

Brunson,  C.  M..  on  "Aims" 85 

Brunson,  C.  M.,  Training  and  Qualifications  of  Workers 140 

Buildings  and   Equipment    • 26 

Chalmers,  R.  S..  on  "Aims" 82 

Charts  of  the   Survey 173 

Church,  Relation  to   35 

Class  Groups  in   Schools 22 

Coe,  G.  A.,  Opposing  Theories  of  Curriculum 92 

Conference,   Review^  of    • 197 

Constitutional  Provisions  Regarding  Religious  Instruction 157 

Cost  per  Pupil,  Annual  24 

Cost  per  School,  Annual 24 

Cowles,  M.  K.,  on  "Aims" • 79 

Credit  in   Public  Schools 30 

Curriculum,  Evaluation  of  (Artman) 100 

Curriculum,  Opposing  Theories  of  (Coe) 92 

Curriculum    Survey    46 

Davis,  J.  B.,  Public  School  Relationships 120 

Dibble,  C.  L.,  Legal  Provisions  on  Week-Day  Schools 163 

Distribution  of  Schools    13 

Emme,  E.  E.,  on  "Aims" 89 

Enrollment  of  Pupils    43 

Evaluation  of  Aims  of  Schools   (Winchester) 116 

Excuses  from  School,  Form  of • 30 

Financial  Support    24 

Findings  of  the  Convention 170 

Forsyth,  N.  F.,  on  "Aims" 79 

Gary,  Indiana,  Schools   58 

Gary  Leaflets,  in  Curriculum 104 

Government  and  Organization 19 

Grades  Taught,  Number  of • 21 

Graphs  and  Charts  of  the  Survey 173 

Growth  of  Week-Day  Movement 12 

Hartshorne,  H.,  Can  Growth  in  Religion  be  Measured 150 

Hartshorne,  H.,  Worship  in  the  Week-Day  Schools 110 

Hawthorne,  M.  O.,  Preparation  and  Training  of  Teachers 136 

Hosic,  J.  F.,  Application  of  Modern  Methods  to  Religious  Education 113 

Illinois  Legal  Provisions    • 167 

Indiana  Legal  Provisions  168 

Judicial  Decisions  on  Schools   160 

Legal  Basis  of  the  Schools  (Zollman) 155 

Legal  Provisions  on  Week-Day  Schools  (Dibble) 163 

Libraries  and  Reference  Work • .'...'.  28 

Location  of  Schools,  by  States '  "  14 


204  WEEK-DAY   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

Measurement,  Can  Growth  in  Religion  be  Measured  (Hartshorne)   149 

Michig'an  Legal  Provisions    168 

Modern  Methods,  Application  of  to  Week-Day  Religious  Instructioi      (Hosic)  .  113 

Music  and  Art  in  Schools  (Smith) 140 

Mutch,  W.  J.,  on  "Aims" 83 

Newton,  M.  W.,  on  "Aims" • 87 

New  York  Protestant  Teachers'  Association 63 

Number  of  Schools   13 

Ohio  Legal  Provisions   • 167 

Preparation  and  Traming  of  Teachers    (Hawthorne) 136 

Public  School  Property,  Use  of   162 

Public  School  Relationships   (Davis) 120 

Public  School  Supervision   • 33 

Public  Schools,  Relations  to 29 

Recitations  in  Schools  • 23 

Richardson,  N.  E.,  on  "Aims" 84 

Salaries  of  Administrators  and  Supervisors 38 

Salaries  of  Teachers    • 41 

Sargent,  E.,  Aims  of  Week-Day  Instruction 74 

Scribners  Series  of  Text  Books 105 

Seaman,  W.  G.,  on  "Aims"  81 

Seaman,  W.  G.,  The  Community  Plan 131 

Shaver,  E.  L.,  Survey  of  Week-Day  Schools 9 

Smith,  H.  A.,  Art  and  Music  in  Schools 140 

Southerton,   W.    I.,   on    "Aims" 80 

South    Evanston    Schools 54 

Squires,  W.  A.,  The  Individual  Church  School 133 

Statutory     Provisions 166 

Stewart,  G.  C,  Aims  of  Week-Day  Religious  Education 119 

Stout,  J.  E.,  Problems  in  Supervision 145 

Supervision    and    Administration 37 

Supervision,    Problems   in    (Stout) 145 

Survey  of  Week-Day  Schools  (Shaver) 9 

Teaching  Modern   Methods   Applied 113 

Teaching  Process,  Survey   of 48 

Teachers,  Survey  Reports  on 40 

Tendencies    in    Schools 52 

Text    Books,    Evaluation    of 104 

Time   at   which    Classes    Meet 22 

Toledo,  Ohio,  Schools 61 

Tonawanda,  New  York,  Schools 66 

Training   and    Qualifications   of  Workers    (Brunson) • 139 

Training  of  Administrators  and  Supervisors 39 

Training   of  Teachers 42 

Types  of  Schools 11,  124-135 

Types,    The    Community    Plan    (Seaman) 131 

Types,  The    Cooperating    Denominational    (Zeigler) 124 

Types,  The  Individual   Church  School   (Squires) 133 

Types,  The  Maiden  Plan   (Athearn) 127 

University  of  Chicago  Series  of  Text  Books 106 

Van  Wert,  Ohio,  Schools 60 

Winchester,  B.  S.,  Evaluation  of  Aims  of  Schools 116 

Wisconsin    Legal    Provisions 167 

Workers    in    Conference 197 

Worship  in  the  Week-Day  School  (Hartshorne) 110 

Yaple,  G.   S.,  on  "Aims" 86 

Zeigler,  E.  P.,  Types  of  Schools,  The  Cooperating  Denominational 124 

Zollman,  C,  Legal  Basis  of  the  Schools 155 


Date  Due 


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